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The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West

L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West



Produced by Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.





THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST

BY

LAURA LEE HOPE


Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series," "The
Bunny Brown Series," "The Outdoor
Girls Series," "The Six Little
Bunkers Series," Etc.

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
1920




BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
izmo. Cloth, Illustrated.

THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES

THE BOBBSEY TWINS

THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY

THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE

THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL

THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE

THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT

THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK

THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME

THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY

THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND

THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA

THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON

THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST

THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER. SUE PLAYING CIRCUS

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW

BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE

THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES

SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S

SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S

SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S

SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S

SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S

SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S

THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES

(Ten Titles)






CONTENTS

CHAPTER


I. THE TRAIN WRECK

II. THE QUEER OLD MAN

III. MR. BOBBSEY REMEMBERS

IV. THE OLD MAN'S STORY

V. NEWS FROM THE WEST

VI. AUNT EMELINE

VII. HAPPY DAYS

VIII. OFF FOR THE WEST

IX. DINNER FOR TWO

X. FREDDIE, AS USUAL

XI. IN CHICAGO

XII. NEARING LUMBERVILLE

XIII. THE SAWMILL

XIV. THE BIG TREE

XV. BILL DAYTON

XVI. THE TRAIN CRASH

XVII. AT THE RANCH

XVIII. A RUNAWAY PONY

XIX. THE WILD STEER

XX. THE ROUND-UP

XXI. IN THE STORM

XXII. NEW NAMES



CHAPTER I

THE TRAIN WRECK


"Come on, let's make a snow man!" cried Bert Bobbsey, as he ran about
in the white drifts of snow that were piled high in the yard in front
of the house.

"That'll be lots of fun!" chimed in Freddie Bobbsey, who was Bert's
small brother. "We can make a man, and then throw snowballs at him,
and he won't care a bit; will he, Bert?"

"No, I guess a snow man doesn't care how many times you hit him with
snowballs," laughed the older boy, as he tried to catch a dog that was
leaping about in the drifts, barking for joy. "The more snowballs you
throw at a snow man the bigger he gets," said Bert.

"Oh, Bert Bobbsey, he does not!" cried a girl with dark hair and
sparkling brown eyes, as she ran along with a smaller girl holding her
red-mittened hand. "A snow man can't grow any bigger! What makes you
tell Freddie so?"

"Course a snow man can grow bigger!" declared Bert. "A snowball grows
bigger the more you roll it in the snow, doesn't it?"

"Yes," admitted Nan--Nan being the name of the brown-eyed girl, Bert's
twin sister. "I know a snowball grows bigger the more you roll it, but
you don't roll a snow man!" went on the brown-eyed girl.

"Ho, ho! wouldn't that be funny?" laughed the little girl, whose hand
Nan held.

"What would be funny, Flossie?" asked Freddie, and one look at the two
smaller Bobbsey children would have told you that they, too, were
twins. In fact the four Bobbseys were twins--that is there were two
sets of them--Bert and Nan, and Flossie and Freddie. "What would be
funny?" Freddie wanted to know. "Tell me! I want to laugh."

"Yes, you generally do want to laugh, little fireman!" and Bert
Bobbsey laughed himself as he gave his small brother the pet name that
Daddy Bobbsey had thought up some time ago. "But, as Flossie says, it
would be funny to see a snow man rolling around in the drifts to make
himself bigger," went on Bert.

"But you said he'd get bigger if we threw snowballs at him," insisted
Nan.

"And he will," went on Bert. "You see, a snowball gets bigger when you
roll it around the yard, because more snow keeps sticking to it all
the while. And if we make a snow man and then throw little snowballs
at him, these snowballs will stick to him and he'll grow bigger, won't
he?"

"Oh, I didn't know you meant _that_ way!" and now Nan, herself,
began to laugh. Of course Flossie and Freddie joined in, though I am
not sure that they knew what the joke was all about, but they were
having fun in the snow and that was all they cared for.

It was a fine snow storm, at least for the Bobbsey twins and the other
children of Lakeport. It was not too cold, and the white flakes had
come down so fast that there was now enough snow to make many snow men
and snowballs, and leave plenty for coasting down hill.

The Bobbsey twins had hurried out to play in the snow as soon as they
got home from school, and now they were having fine fun. Snap, their
dog, was playing with them, leaping about in the drifts, diving
through them, as the Bobbsey twins had seen swimmers dive through
waves down at the seashore and Snap would come out on the other side
of the drift all covered with white flakes, as though he were a snow
dog.

Dear old Dinah, the fat, jolly, good-natured colored cook, who had
been with the Bobbseys many years, stood at the window looking at the
children having fun in the snow.

"Why doesn't yo' go out an' jine 'em?" she asked, as she looked at a
sleek cat that was curled up asleep near the stove. "Why doesn't yo'
go out in de snow? Dat's whut I asks yo', Snoop," went on Dinah. "Dar
dey is--Flossie an' Freddie an' Nan an' Bert. An' Snap's out wif 'em,
too. Why don't yo' go out an' jine de party?"

But Snoop seemed to like it better by the warm fire. He didn't want to
"jine" any party, as Dinah called it. Snoop didn't like snow or water.

"Well, shall we make a snow man?" asked Bert, as he raced about with
Snap, making the dog chase after sticks which would become buried deep
under the snow, where Snap had to dig them out. But the dog liked
this.

"Let's make a snow house. I think that would be more fun," said Nan.

"Oh, yes, and I can get my doll, and we can have a play party in the
snow house," cried Flossie.

"Can't we take the snow man into the snow house?" Freddie wanted to
know. "That'll be more fun than dolls. And we can make believe the
snow house gets on fire, and I'll be a fireman and put it out. Oh,
let's play that!" he cried, his eyes shining in fun.

"Yes, anything like playing fireman suits you," returned Bert. "But it
would be pretty hard even to _pretend_ a snow house was burning.
Snow can't catch fire, Freddie!"

"Well, we could make believe!" said the little fellow. "Anyhow, I'm
going to start to make a snow man, and you can make the snow house."

"And I'll get my doll!" added Flossie, starting toward the house, her
little fat legs and feet making holes in the snow drifts as she tried
to hurry along.

"Wait, I'll carry you," offered Nan. "You're getting so fat, little
fairy, that you'll look like a snow man yourself, if you keep on."

"Are snow mans always fat?" asked Flossie.

"They always seem to be," Nan said, as she lifted up her little sister
in her arms. Snap, the dog, came flurrying through the snow after
them. "My, I can hardly carry you!" panted Nan, for Flossie was indeed
growing fast, and was heavy.

However, Nan managed to carry Flossie over to a path Mr. Bobbsey had
told Sam, who was Dinah's husband, to shovel through the snow that
morning. It was easier for Flossie to walk on the shoveled path, so
Nan put her down.

The two girls went into the house, Flossie to get her doll, while Nan
went to the kitchen and said something to Dinah, the fat, jolly cook.

"Suah, I gibs 'em to yo'!" exclaimed Dinah, laughing all over at Nan's
question. "I'll put 'em in a bag, so's yo'all won't spill 'em!"

And when Flossie was ready to go out again with her doll, Nan went
with her, carrying a bag, at which Snap sniffed hungrily.

"What you got?" asked the little girl.

"Oh, you'll see pretty soon," Nan answered,

"Is it a secret?" Flossie kept on teasing.

"Sort of secret," Nan answered.

When the two girls reached the place where they had left the two boys,
Bert was beginning to make a snow house and Freddie was rolling a
snowball as the start of a snow man. You know how they are made; a
small snowball for the man's head, and a larger one for his body, with
legs underneath. Freddie hoped Bert would help him when it came to the
big snowball part of it.

"Is the snow house ready?" asked Flossie, who had gone in especially
to get her doll, so she might have a "play party."

"Oh, no, it takes a good while to make a snow house," Bert said. "I
don't believe I'll get it done before night if you don't help me."

"I'll help," offered Flossie. "Can I make the chimbley?"

"They don't have chimbleys on a snow house!" declared Freddie, pausing
in his rolling of the snowball. "They don't have chimbleys on snow
houses, 'cause they don't have fires in 'em; do they Bert?"

"That's right, Freddie," agreed the older boy. "But maybe, if Flossie
wants it, we could put a make-believe chimney on the snow house."

"Oh, I do want it--awful much!" cried Flossie. "Come on, Nan, you help
Bert make the snow house, and then we can all play in it.

"And you've got to let my snow man come in!" cried Freddie.

"Yes, we'll let him come in if you don't make him too big," agreed
Bert, with a laugh.

Bert and Nan, the older Bobbsey twins, generally did what they could
to please Flossie and Freddie, who sometimes wanted their own way too
much.

"I guess I'll help make the snow house first," went on Freddie,
walking away from the snowball he had partly rolled. "After that I'll
make the man. It's better to make the house first, and then I'll know
how big I can make the man."

"Yes, that would be a good idea, little fireman!" returned Bert, with
a laugh and a look at Nan. And then Bert caught sight of the bag in
his sister's hand--the bag around which Snap was sniffing so hungrily.

"What have you, Nan?" asked Bert, pausing in the midst of shoveling
snow in a heap for the start of the snow house.

"Oh--something!" and Nan smiled.

"Something good?" Bert went on.

"I guess they're good," Nan said, smiling. "I haven't tasted 'em yet,
but Dinah nearly always makes good cookies!"

"Oh, have you got some of Dinah's cookies?" cried Bert, dropping the
shovel, and running toward Nan. "Give me some! Please!"

"I want some, too!" cried Flossie.

"So do I!" chimed in Freddie.

Snap didn't say anything, but from the way he barked and leaped about
I am sure he, too, wanted some of the cookies.

"Dinah gave me enough for all of us," said Nan, as she opened the bag.
"Yes, and there's a broken piece off one that you can have," she went
on to Snap, the dog.

Beginning with Flossie, then handing one to Freddie, next passing a
cookie to Bert and helping herself last, as was polite, Nan gave out
the cookies. Forgotten, now, were snow houses, snow men, snowballs,
and even Flossie's doll. The Bobbsey twins were eating Dinah's
cookies.

They had each begun on the second helping, when suddenly a loud crash
sounded, which seemed to come from the direction of the railroad
tracks which ran not far from the Bobbsey home. The crash was followed
by loud shouting.

"I wonder what that was?" cried Bert.

"Sounded like thunder," returned Nan.

"Let's go and see," said Bert.

Just as they were starting from the yard, Charley Mason, a boy who
lived farther up the street, on the hill, came running along.

"Oh, you ought to see it!" he cried, his eyes big with wonder.

"See what?" asked Bert.

"Smash-up on the railroad, down in the rocky cut!" answered Charlie.
"Two engines smashed together, and the cars are all busted! I saw it
from the top of the hill! I'm going down! Come on!"




CHAPTER II

THE QUEER OLD MAN


The first impulse of Bert and Nan Bobbsey was, of course, to rush out
of the yard and go with Charley Mason to see the train wreck. And,
naturally, as soon as Bert and Nan began to run, Flossie and Freddie,
forgetting snow men, snow houses, and even Dinah's cookies, started
after their older brother and sister.

"Go on back!" cried Bert to the two smaller children. "You can't come
with us!"

"We want to see the wreck!" declared Freddie. "Maybe it's on fire, an'
if I'm goin' to be a fireman I must see fires!"

He always declared he was going to be a fireman when he grew up, and
he was eager to see the engines every time they went out in answer to
an alarm of fire.

"Come on, Bert, if you're coming!" called Charley Mason, from the
street in front of the Bobbsey home. "It's a terrible wreck--cars off
the track--engines all smashed up--everything!"

"Here, Nan, you take Flossie and Freddie into the house! I'm going
with Charley!" said Bert.

"I want to see the wreck, too!" objected Nan. "You go into the house,
Freddie, and I'll bring you a lollypop when I come back," she added.
"Don't want a lollypop! I want to see the busted engines!" declared
Freddie almost ready to cry.

"So do I!" chimed in Flossie. She generally did want to see the same
things Freddie saw.

"Oh, dear! what shall we do?" exclaimed Nan.

Just then, from the door, Mrs. Bobbsey called:

"Children, children, what's the matter? What was that loud noise that
seemed to shake the house?"

"It's a train wreck and I want to go down with Charley Mason to see
it!" answered Bert. "But Flossie and Freddie want to come, and they're
too little and--and--"

Then Flossie and Freddie began to talk, and so did Nan and so did
Charley, and there was so much talking that I will wait a few minutes
for every one to get quiet, and then go on with the story. And, while
I am waiting, I will tell my new readers something about the Bobbsey
twins as they have been written about in the books that come before
this one in the series.

The four children lived in the eastern city of Lakeport, at the head
of Lake Metoka. Mr. Bobbsey was in the lumber business, and boats on
the lake in summer and trains on the railroad in winter brought piles
of boards to his yard.

"The Bobbsey Twins" is the name of the first book of this series, and
in it you may read of the fun Bert and Nan and Flossie and Freddie had
together, playing with Charley Mason, Danny Rugg, Nellie Parks and
other children of the neighborhood. Sometimes the children had little
quarrels, as all boys and girls do, and, once in a while, Bert and Nan
would be "mad at" Charley Mason or Danny Rugg. But they soon became
friends again, and had jolly times together. Just at present Charley
and Bert were on good terms.

The second book is called "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country," and
those who have read it remember the summer spent on the farm of Uncle
Daniel Bobbsey and his wife Sarah, who lived at Meadow Brook.

Another uncle, named William Minturn, a brother-in-law of Mrs.
Bobbsey's, lived at Ocean Cliff; and in the third book, called "The
Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore," you may learn of the good times Bert
and the others had playing on the beach and having adventures.

After that the Bobbsey twins went to school, and they spent part of a
winter at Snow Lodge. Some time later they made a trip on a houseboat,
and stopped again at Meadow Brook. The next adventures of the children
took place at home, and from there they went to a great city where
many wonderful things happened. Blueberry Island was as nice a place
as the name sounds, and Bert, Nan, Flossie, and Freddie never forgot
the fun they had there. It was almost as exciting as when they
traveled on the deep, blue sea. But you can imagine how happy the
Bobbsey twins were when their father told them he was going to take
them to Washington!

The book about the Washington trip, telling of the mystery of Miss
Pompret's china, comes just before the one you are now reading, and it
was on their return from that capital city that the children were
having fun in the snow.

Christmas had come and gone, bringing much happiness, and it was
because they had discovered some of Miss Pompret's missing china in a
very strange way that the Bobbsey twins had a much nicer Christmas
than usual.

After the holidays winter set in hard and fast, but of course it could
not last forever, and there were some who said this snow storm, which
gave the Bobbsey twins such a fine chance to have fun, would be the
last of the season.

It was, as I have told you, while Bert, Nan, Flossie, and Freddie were
making a snow house and a snow man that they had heard the loud crash
and Charley Mason had called out about the wreck.

"Has there really been an accident?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, when the talk
had somewhat quieted down.

"Oh, yes'm!" exclaimed Charley. "From my house up on the hill I can
look right down into the railroad cut. I was out feeding my dog, and I
heard the noise and I looked and I saw the two engines all smashed
together and cars off the track and a lot of people running around
and--and--everything!"

Charley had to stop to catch his breath.

Mrs. Bobbsey looked down the street and saw a number of men and women
and some girls and boys hurrying to the railroad tracks.

"We want to go to see it!" begged Bert.

"And we want to go, too!" pleaded Freddie.

Sam Johnson, the husband of Dinah, the cook, came around the corner of
the house.

"There's somethin' must 'a' happened down by the railroad," he said to
Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Yes, it's a wreck," she answered. "The children want to go, but I
can't have them going alone. You may take them down, Sam, but if it is
too bad--you know what I mean, too many people hurt--bring them right
back."

"Yassum, I'll do that there!" agreed Sam, glad himself to get the
chance to see what all the excitement was about. "Come along,
chilluns!" he added, with a smile.

"Oh, now we can go!" cried Flossie, as she raced over and took one of
Sam's hands. "Now we can go!"

"Yep! Sam'll take care of us. Won't you, Sam?" asked Freddie as he
took the other hand. "And if there's a fire I can go near tie firemen,
can't I?" he begged.

"We'll see," said the colored man, with a nod to Mrs. Bobbsey to show
that he understood how to look after the smaller twins.

"Come on!" cried Charley. "I want to see that wreck!"

"So do I!" added Bert, as he hurried on ahead with Nan and Charley.
Sam, leading Flossie and Freddie by the hands, followed more slowly
out into the street, where the sidewalks had been cleared of snow so
the walking was easier. Snap, the dog, tried to follow, but fearing
that he might get hurt, Bert drove him back.

The railroad ran at the foot of the street on which the Bobbsey house
stood. The street went downhill to the tracks, and the railroad passed
through what Charley had called a "cut."

That is, a cut had been made through the side of the hill so the
tracks would be as nearly level as possible. Sometimes, when a hill is
too high the railroad has to go through it in a tunnel. And a "cut" is
a tunnel with the top taken off.

As Bert, Nan, and the others hurried along the street they saw many
other persons hastening in the direction of the wreck. In a cutter,
drawn by a horse that had a string of jingling bells on, Dr. Brown
passed, waving to the Bobbsey twins.

"I guess there must be somebody hurt, or Dr. Brown wouldn't be going,"
said Charley Mason.

"I guess so," agreed Bert. "I never saw a big wreck."

"Well, this is a big one!" cried Charley. "I saw the two engines all
smashed up."

A little later the Bobbsey twins, in charge of Sam, came to the edge
of the cut. They could look down to the railroad tracks and see the
wreck. Surely enough, two trains had come together, one engine
smashing into the other. Both trains were on the same track, and had
been going in opposite directions. There was a curve in the cut, and
neither engineer had seen the other train coming until it was too late
to stop.

"Why--why, they just bunketed right together, didn't they?" cried
Freddie. "They just bunketed right together, like my express wagon
when it ran into Henry Watson's push-o-mobile the other day."

"That's just what happened," said Bert.

For a moment the Bobbsey twins stood and looked down at the wreck.
Just as Charley had said, the two engines were smashed and there were
some cars knocked off the track. But the wreck was not as bad as it
had seemed at first, and I am glad to say no one was killed, though a
number of people were hurt.

The Bobbsey twins could see these persons, who had been passengers on
one or the other of the trains, moving about down in the railroad cut.
Some of them did not seem to know just what had happened. The accident
had so frightened them that they were in a daze.

Trainmen, policemen, and even some firemen, were helping the injured
persons away from the wreck. There had been no fire, and, much as
Freddie liked to see the engines, he was glad there was no blaze to
make matters worse for the poor people who were hurt.

"Dat suah is a smash!" declared Sam, as he stood on the bank, holding
the hands of Freddie and Flossie. "Dey suah did bump togedder lickity-
smash!"

"Let's go down closer!" suggested Charley Mason.

Bert looked at Sam, as if asking if this might be done.

"No, indeedy!" exclaimed the faithful colored man. "Yo'all jest stay
right yeah! Yo'all's ma tole me to look after yo', an' I'se gwine to
do it! Yo'all kin see whut dey is to see right yeah! If you goes any
closter one ob dem bullgines might blow up!"

"I don't want to be blowed up; do I, Sam?" put in Flossie.

"No, indeedy!" he answered.

"Well, I'm going down!" declared Charley.

And, not having any one with him to make him mind, he slid down the
snow-covered bank to the tracks, where there was quite a large crowd
now gathered.

The railroad men were starting to work to get the wreck off the
tracks, so other trains might pass. The injured persons were being
cared for by Dr. Brown and others, and the worst of the wreck seemed
over. Still there was much for the Bobbsey twins to look at.

Flossie and Freddie kept tight hold of Sam's hand, and Bert and Nan
stood a little way off, gazing down into the cut. As the Bobbsey twins
stood there they saw, climbing up a narrow foot-path on the side of
the railroad hill, a queer old man. He was dressed somewhat as the
children had seen Uncle Daniel Bobbsey dress on a cold day at the
farm, with a red scarf about his neck. And this man was carrying his
hat in one hand while in the other he held a banana half-pealed and
eaten.

The queer man seemed very much frightened, and he was hurrying up the
hill path as though trying to run away from something. Bert had just
time to see that there was a cut on the man's head, which was
bleeding, when, all at once, the queer character cried:

"There! I forgot my satchel! I thought this was it!" and he looked at
the banana he was carrying. He turned, as though to hurry back down
toward the wreck, and then he slipped and fell in the snow.

"Mah goodness!" cried Sam, as he dropped the hands of the smaller
Bobbsey twins and sprang toward the man. "You's gwine to slide right
down on de tracks ag'in ef you don't be keerful!" And Sam caught the
queer man just in time.




CHAPTER III

MR. BOBBSEY REMEMBERS


The Bobbsey twins at first did not know what to think of the queer man
who had fallen down in the snow just as he reached the top of the
hill, at the bottom of which was the train wreck. But when Bert
noticed the bleeding cut on the head he guessed what had happened.

"I guess he was one of the passengers, and got hurt," said the boy to
Nan.

"I guess so, too." she said.

Flossie and Freddie, not having Sam's hand to take hold of now, were
holding each other's and watching the colored man help the stranger.

"Hold on now! Jest take it easy!" advised Sam, in, a soothing voice.
"Yo's gwine to feel better soon. Is you much hurted?"

The man seemed more dazed than ever. He put his hand to his head,
letting go of the banana he had been holding, and when he saw that his
fingers were red, because they had touched the bloody cut, he
exclaimed:

"Oh, now I remember what happened! I was in the train wreck!"

"That's right! I guess you was," said Sam, "You come up de hill from
down by de railroad tracks, an' you done slipped back down ag'in
almost! I jest caught you in time!"

"Thank you," said the man. "I really didn't know what I was doing. All
I wanted to do was to get away from the wreck, and I took the first
path I saw. I must have got out of breath, for when I reached the top
of the hill I couldn't go any more, and I just slipped down."

"I saw you!" exclaimed Sam. "Maybe dat whack you got on top ob yo'
haid makes you feel funny."

"I rather think it does," said the man. "But I'm feeling better now.
When the crash came I jumped out of my seat--as soon as I could get up
after being knocked down--and rushed out of the car. I must have been
wandering around for some time. Then I saw this path leading up the
hill and I took it."

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