THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST

BY

LAURA LEE HOPE

Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series, " "TheBunny Brown Series, " "The OutdoorGirls Series, " "The Six LittleBunkers Series, " Etc. 

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK1920

BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPEizmo. 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 aboutin the white drifts of snow that were piled high in the yard in frontof the house. 

"That'll be lots of fun!" chimed in Freddie Bobbsey, who was Bert'ssmall 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 withsnowballs, " laughed the older boy, as he tried to catch a dog that wasleaping about in the drifts, barking for joy. "The more snowballs youthrow at a snow man the bigger he gets, " said Bert. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And he will, " went on Bert. "You see, a snowball gets bigger when youroll it around the yard, because more snow keeps sticking to it allthe while. And if we make a snow man and then throw little snowballsat him, these snowballs will stick to him and he'll grow bigger, won'the?"

"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 amnot sure that they knew what the joke was all about, but they werehaving 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 otherchildren of Lakeport. It was not too cold, and the white flakes hadcome down so fast that there was now enough snow to make many snow menand snowballs, and leave plenty for coasting down hill. 

The Bobbsey twins had hurried out to play in the snow as soon as theygot home from school, and now they were having fine fun. Snap, theirdog, was playing with them, leaping about in the drifts, divingthrough them, as the Bobbsey twins had seen swimmers dive throughwaves down at the seashore and Snap would come out on the other sideof the drift all covered with white flakes, as though he were a snowdog. 

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

"Why doesn't yo' go out an' jine 'em?" she asked, as she looked at asleek 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. "Dardey 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 withSnap, making the dog chase after sticks which would become buried deepunder the snow, where Snap had to dig them out. But the dog likedthis. 

"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 thesnow house, " cried Flossie. 

"Can't we take the snow man into the snow house?" Freddie wanted toknow. "That'll be more fun than dolls. And we can make believe thesnow 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 itwould 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'mgoing 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, herlittle fat legs and feet making holes in the snow drifts as she triedto hurry along. 

"Wait, I'll carry you, " offered Nan. "You're getting so fat, littlefairy, 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 sisterin her arms. Snap, the dog, came flurrying through the snow afterthem. "My, I can hardly carry you!" panted Nan, for Flossie was indeedgrowing fast, and was heavy. 

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

The two girls went into the house, Flossie to get her doll, while Nanwent 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'squestion. "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 wentwith 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 asnowball as the start of a snow man. You know how they are made; asmall snowball for the man's head, and a larger one for his body, withlegs underneath. Freddie hoped Bert would help him when it came to thebig snowball part of it. 

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

"Oh, no, it takes a good while to make a snow house, " Bert said. "Idon'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, pausingin his rolling of the snowball. "They don't have chimbleys on snowhouses, 'cause they don't have fires in 'em; do they Bert?"

"That's right, Freddie, " agreed the older boy. "But maybe, if Flossiewants 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 helpBert 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, " agreedBert, with a laugh. 

Bert and Nan, the older Bobbsey twins, generally did what they couldto please Flossie and Freddie, who sometimes wanted their own way toomuch. 

"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'llmake the man. It's better to make the house first, and then I'll knowhow big I can make the man. "

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

"What have you, Nan?" asked Bert, pausing in the midst of shovelingsnow 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 theshovel, 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 aboutI 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 wenton to Snap, the dog. 

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

They had each begun on the second helping, when suddenly a loud crashsounded, which seemed to come from the direction of the railroadtracks which ran not far from the Bobbsey home. The crash was followedby 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 wholived 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 itfrom 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 outof 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, startedafter their older brother and sister. 

"Go on back!" cried Bert to the two smaller children. "You can't comewith 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, andhe was eager to see the engines every time they went out in answer toan alarm of fire. 

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

"Here, Nan, you take Flossie and Freddie into the house! I'm goingwith 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!" declaredFreddie almost ready to cry. 

"So do I!" chimed in Flossie. She generally did want to see the samethings 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 thatseemed to shake the house?"

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

Then Flossie and Freddie began to talk, and so did Nan and so didCharley, and there was so much talking that I will wait a few minutesfor every one to get quiet, and then go on with the story. And, whileI am waiting, I will tell my new readers something about the Bobbseytwins as they have been written about in the books that come beforethis one in the series. 

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

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

The second book is called "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country, " andthose who have read it remember the summer spent on the farm of UncleDaniel 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 "TheBobbsey Twins at the Seashore, " you may learn of the good times Bertand the others had playing on the beach and having adventures. 

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

The book about the Washington trip, telling of the mystery of MissPompret's china, comes just before the one you are now reading, and itwas on their return from that capital city that the children werehaving fun in the snow. 

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

After the holidays winter set in hard and fast, but of course it couldnot last forever, and there were some who said this snow storm, whichgave the Bobbsey twins such a fine chance to have fun, would be thelast of the season. 

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

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

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

Charley had to stop to catch his breath. 

Mrs. Bobbsey looked down the street and saw a number of men and womenand 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 ofthe house. 

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

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

"Yassum, I'll do that there!" agreed Sam, glad himself to get thechance 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 ofSam's hands. "Now we can go!"

"Yep! Sam'll take care of us. Won't you, Sam?" asked Freddie as hetook 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 showthat 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 slowlyout into the street, where the sidewalks had been cleared of snow sothe walking was easier. Snap, the dog, tried to follow, but fearingthat he might get hurt, Bert drove him back. 

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

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

As Bert, Nan, and the others hurried along the street they saw manyother persons hastening in the direction of the wreck. In a cutter, drawn by a horse that had a string of jingling bells on, Dr. Brownpassed, 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 allsmashed up. "

A little later the Bobbsey twins, in charge of Sam, came to the edgeof the cut. They could look down to the railroad tracks and see thewreck. Surely enough, two trains had come together, one enginesmashing into the other. Both trains were on the same track, and hadbeen going in opposite directions. There was a curve in the cut, andneither engineer had seen the other train coming until it was too lateto stop. 

"Why--why, they just bunketed right together, didn't they?" criedFreddie. "They just bunketed right together, like my express wagonwhen 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 weresome cars knocked off the track. But the wreck was not as bad as ithad seemed at first, and I am glad to say no one was killed, though anumber of people were hurt. 

The Bobbsey twins could see these persons, who had been passengers onone 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 accidenthad so frightened them that they were in a daze. 

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

"Dat suah is a smash!" declared Sam, as he stood on the bank, holdingthe 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 stayright yeah! Yo'all's ma tole me to look after yo', an' I'se gwine todo it! Yo'all kin see whut dey is to see right yeah! If you goes anycloster 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 thesnow-covered bank to the tracks, where there was quite a large crowdnow gathered. 

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER III

MR. BOBBSEY REMEMBERS

The Bobbsey twins at first did not know what to think of the queer manwho had fallen down in the snow just as he reached the top of thehill, at the bottom of which was the train wreck. But when Bertnoticed 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 toNan. 

"I guess so, too. " she said. 

Flossie and Freddie, not having Sam's hand to take hold of now, wereholding 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 hisfingers were red, because they had touched the bloody cut, heexclaimed:

"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 fromdown by de railroad tracks, an' you done slipped back down ag'inalmost! I jest caught you in time!"

"Thank you, " said the man. "I really didn't know what I was doing. AllI wanted to do was to get away from the wreck, and I took the firstpath I saw. I must have got out of breath, for when I reached the topof 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 upafter being knocked down--and rushed out of the car. I must have beenwandering around for some time. Then I saw this path leading up thehill and I took it. "

"Why didn't you put your hat on?" asked Bert, who, with the otherBobbsey twins, had been looking closely at the stranger. 

"My hat? That's so, I did forget to put it on, " he said, and, for thefirst time, he seemed to remember that he was carrying his hat in hishand. 

"You might catch cold, " remarked Nan. 

"That's right, little girl--so I might, " he said, and he smiled ather. He had a kind smile, had the man, though his face looked wearyand sad. 

"Did you get much hurt in the wreck?" asked Bert. 

"No, I think not, " was the answer, and again he put his hand to hishead. "It's only a cut, I'm thankful to say. I'll be all right in alittle while. I'll hold a little snow to it. That will wash the bloodoff, as well as water would. "

With Sam's help, he now managed to stand up. The colored man took up ahandful of snow and gave it to the stranger, who held it to the cut onhis head. The cold snow seemed to make him feel better, and when hehad wiped away the blood he put on his hat, shook the snow from hisovercoat, and looked at the banana which he had dropped in a drift. 

"Well, I do declare!" cried the stranger. 

"What's de mattah?" asked Sam. 

"Why, all the while I thought that banana was my satchel, " was theanswer. "I was eating it when the crash came--eating the banana Imean, not my satchel, " and he smiled at Bert and Nan, who smiled backat this little joke. Flossie and Freddie stood there looking on. 

"I was sitting in my seat, eating this banana, " went on the man, "when, all of a sudden, there was a terrible crash, and I was soshaken up, together with a lot of other passengers, that I fell out ofmy seat. That's how my head was cut, I suppose. I thought I wasgrabbing up my satchel, so I could run out and be safe, but I musthave kept hold of the banana instead. 

"I know I got my hat down from the rack overhead, where I had put it, and then out I rushed. My! it was a terrible sight, though I heard itsaid that nobody was killed, and I'm glad of that. But it was aterrific crash, and it made me feel dizzy. I evidently didn't knowwhat I was doing. "

"I should think so, sah!" exclaimed Sam with a smile. "When a bodytakes a banana for a satchel he's jest natchully out ob his mind Isay!"

"I didn't seem to come to myself until I got up here on top of thehill, " went on the man "But I'm feeling better now. I'm not reallyhurt at all, except this cut on my head, and that's only a scratch. I'm going down and get my satchel. I can see the car I was in. Itisn't smashed at all. I'll go for my valise. "

"I'll go with you, " offered Sam. "You chilluns stay heah till I comeback, " he went on. "Don't move away. I got to he'p dis gen'man findhis baggage. "

"It will be a great help to me, " said the man. 

"I might get dizzy again and fall. It's rather steep going down thathill. Will the children be all right if you leave them?"

"Yes, we'll stay right here, " promised Nan. 

"And we'll look after Flossie and Freddie, " added Bert

With this promise, Sam thought it would be all right to go down to thewreck and help the stranger look for the valise he had left near hisseat in the car. While the two men were gone, the colored servanthelping the other, the Bobbsey twins watched the railroad men startingto clear away the wreck. A big derrick had been brought up on anothertrain, and with this the engines and cars that had left the trackscould be lifted back on to them. 

In a short time Sam came back with the man, and the colored helper atthe Bobbsey home was carrying a large valise. 

"We found it all right, " said the stranger. "It was right near myseat. I might have stayed there, but I was so excited I didn't knowwhat I was doing. What place is this, anyhow?"

"This is Lakeport, " answered Bert. "The station's down the track alittle way. Your train hadn't got to it yet. "

"No, the other train got in the way, " said the man with a smile. "Well, accidents will happen, I suppose. So this is Lakeport! Well, this is the very place I was coming to, but I didn't expect to reachit amid so much excitement. "

"You were coming here?" repeated Nan. 

"To Lakeport, yes. I want to find a Mr. Richard Bobbsey. Maybe youchildren can tell me where he lives. "

The Bobbsey twins looked so surprised on hearing this that the mangazed at them in astonishment. 

"Do you know Mr. Bobbsey?" he asked. "I hope he hasn't moved away fromhere. I want to see him most particularly. Do you know him?"

"Does dey _know_ him!" exclaimed Sam, his eyes opening wide. "Does dey _know_ him? Well I should say dey _does!_"

"He's our father!" exclaimed Nan and Bert together. 

"Mr. Bobbsey your father! Well, I do declare!" cried the strange man, and he smiled at the children. They were beginning to like him verymuch. "Just think of that now!" he went on. "My railroad train gets ina wreck right near Lakeport, where I want to get off, and first I knowI run into Mr. Bobbsey's children! Well, well! To think of that!"

"Here comes daddy now!" cried Flossie, pointing to a figure walkingover the snow toward them. 

"Oh, Daddy, I saw the train wreck!" yelled Freddie. "And I saw thefiremans, I did, but they didn't have any engines, and I--I--I saw--"But Freddie was too much out of breath from running to meet his fatherto tell any more just then. 

It was indeed Mr. Bobbsey who had come along just then. He had comehome earlier than usual from the lumberyard office, and his wife hadtold him that the children had gone down the street with Sam to lookat the railroad wreck. 

"I'll go down and bring them back, " said Mr. Bobbsey, "I heard aboutthe wreck. It isn't as bad as at first they thought it was. No one waskilled. "

"I'm glad of that, " replied his wife. "I told Sam to bring thechildren back if it was too bad. "

So it had come about that Mr. Bobbsey reached the top of the cut, downin which the railroad wreck was, just as the strange man was askingthe Bobbsey children about their father. 

"Well, little fireman and little fat fairy, " asked Mr. Bobbsey ofFlossie and Freddie, "did you see all there was to see?"

"I saw the engines all smashed together, " answered Flossie. 

"And I saw a fireman help get a lady out of a car, " added Freddie. 

"Is this Mr. Bobbsey?" asked the voice of the man, as he steppedforward and stood near the children's father. 

"Yes, that is my name, " was the answer. "Did you wish to see me?"

"I came all the way to Lakeport for that, " the stranger went on; "butI didn't mean to come in just this exciting way. "

"Were you in the wreck?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Oh, yes, he was in it, and he thought a banana was his satchel!"exclaimed Flossie, "Wasn't that funny, Daddy?"

Mr. Bobbsey did not quite know what to make of this. 

"Your little girl is quite right, " said the man. "I was so excited, from being in the wreck, where I got a cut on the head, that I rushedfrom the car carrying a banana instead of my valise. 

"However, I'm all right now, and Sam here, as the children call him, was good enough to help me get back my satchel, " went on the man. "Iwas just telling the children that I came here to find Mr. Bobbsey, when, to my great surprise, they let me know that he is their father, and along you came. "

"Yes, these are my youngsters, " said Mr. Bobbsey, smiling at Bert andNan and Flossie and Freddie. "Sam Johnson helps us look after them, and his wife, Dinah, cooks for us. But what did you want to see meabout?" and he looked at the man. 

"Don't you remember me?" came the question. 

Mr. Bobbsey looked more closely at the stranger. He did not recognizehim. 

"Hickson is my name, " said the man. 

"Hiram Hickson. I used to know you when--"

"Oh, now I remember! Now I know you!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "HiramHickson! Of course! I remember you well now! Well, well! This is asurprise! How did you come--"

But just then a loud shouting in the railroad cut below caused Mr. Bobbsey to stop speaking. 

"Look out! Look out!" came the cry, and people began rushing away fromthe cars, some of which were almost overturned, while others werecompletely on their side. "Look out!" cried the warning voice again. 

CHAPTER IV

THE OLD MAN'S STORY

Mr. Bobbsey caught Flossie and Freddie up in his arms and started torun with them. At the same time Sam Johnson pulled Nan to one side, catching hold of her hand, and the strange man, who had said he wasHiram Hickson, took hold of Bert. 

"We'd better get out of harm's way!" said Mr. Hickson. 

As the Bobbsey twins were thus hurried out of any possible danger thetwo older children looked back over their shoulders, down to where therailroad wreck was strewed about along the tracks. They saw therailroad men and other persons running away after the warning shouthad been given, and Bert and Nan wondered what was going to happen. 

They saw a big puff of steam shoot out from one of the engines thatwas partly overturned, and then came a loud noise, as of an explosion. 

A few moments later, however, the cloud of steam was blown away by thewind, the noise stopped, and the people no longer ran away. 

"I guess the danger is over, " said Mr. Bobbsey, as he stopped and setFlossie and Freddie down on the ground a little way back from the edgeof the cliff, from which they had been looking at the train wreck. "Infact, " went on Mr. Bobbsey, "I don't believe we would have been hurtif we had stayed where we were. But when I heard that shouting Ididn't know what was going to happen. "

"That's right, " returned Mr. Hickson, who had let go of Bert. "Younever know what is going to happen in a railroad wreck. I didn't haveany idea, when I was riding so easily in my seat, that, a minutelater, I'd be thrown out with my head cut and a banana in my hand. "

"What happened down there, Daddy?" asked Nan. 

"There must have been a blow-out, or an explosion, in the locomotive, "answered Mr. Bobbsey. "The fire got too hot after the wreck, and thesteam burst out at one side of the boiler. But no one seems to behurt, and I'm glad of that. The wreck was bad enough. "

The railroad men and others who had run out of danger when some one, who saw the boiler about to explode, had given the warning, now cameback. They started again to clear the tracks so that waiting trainscould pass. 

"Well, I don't believe there's much more to see, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "We'd better be getting back home, children, or your mother will worryabout you. "

"Can't I stay and see the firemen just a little longer?" beggedFreddie. 

"I don't believe they are going to do much more, " answered his father. "Their work is nearly done. All the people who were hurt have beentaken away. "

This was true. The scene of the wreck was now being cleared, and in alittle while the damaged engine and cars would be hauled away to theshops to be mended. 

"Did you get everything belonging to you, Mr. Hickson?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of the man who had been slightly hurt in the wreck. 

"Yes, I have my satchel, " he answered. "And as I was going to get outat the Lakeport station I'm right at the place where I was going, evenif there had been no wreck. " "And so you were coming to see me, wereyou?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, I don't know what your plans are, butI would be very glad to have you come to supper with me. "

"Maybe your wife mightn't like it, " said Mr. Hickson. "She might notbe ready for company, and I'd better tell you that I'm quite hungry. "

"So'm I!" exclaimed Freddie. "I'm hungry, and I eat a lot. But Dinah--she's our cook--has lots to eat in her kitchen!"

"Well, then maybe she'd have enough for me, " replied Mr. Hickson, witha laugh. "If you're sure it won't put your wife out I'll come, " hesaid to Mr. Bobbsey. "I want to see you, anyhow, and have a talk withyou. I want to ask your advice. "

"Very well, come along, then, " returned the children's father. 

"We can talk after supper, " went on Mr. Bobbsey, as the little partywalked along the Lakeport street away from the railroad wreck. "Thatis, if you feel able, Mr. Hickson. "

"Oh, I'm beginning to feel all right again, " said Mr. Hickson. "I waspretty well shaken up and knocked around when the cars stopped sosuddenly, and I was a bit dazed, so I didn't know what I was doing--taking a banana for my satchel, for instance!" And he smiled atFlossie and Freddie, who laughed as they remembered how queer this hadseemed to them. 

"Yes, I'm all right now, Dick, " went on the old man, and Bert and Nanwondered how it was that this stranger called their father by the nametheir mother used in speaking to her husband. 

Mr. Bobbsey saw that Bert and Nan were wondering about this, and heexplained by saying that he and Mr. Hickson had known each other formany years. 

"We used to know one another, " said Mr. Bobbsey to his children. "Butit's been a good many years since I have seen him. "

"Yes, it has been a good many years, " said Mr. Hickson, in rather asad voice. "And they haven't been altogether happy years for me, either; I can tell you that, Dick. "

"I'm sorry to hear you say so, " replied Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Were you in lots of railroad wrecks, and did the firemans have tocome and get you out?" asked Freddie. To him railroad wrecks seemedvery bad things, indeed, though having the firemen come was somethinghe always liked to watch. 

"No, this is the only railroad wreck I have ever been in, " said Mr. Hickson. "I don't want to be in another, either. No, my bad luckdidn't have anything to do with wrecks or firemen. I'll tell you mystory after supper, " he said to Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Will you tell us a story, too?" begged Flossie. 

"I'm afraid my kind of story isn't the kind you want to hear, " saidthe man, smiling rather sadly. 

"Daddy will tell you a story, little fat fairy!" said Mr. Bobbsey ashe gently pinched the chubby cheek of his little girl. "I'll tell youand my little fireman a story after supper. "

Flossie and Freddie clapped their hands and danced along the sidewalkin glee at hearing this. 

The little party was soon at the Bobbsey home, and you can imagine howsurprised Mrs. Bobbsey was when she saw, not only her husband, thechildren, and Sam coming in the gate, but a strange man. She must haveshown the surprise she felt, for Mr. Bobbsey said:

"Mary, you remember Hiram Hickson, don't you? He and I used to knoweach other when I was a boy in Cedarville. "

"Why, of course I remember you!" said the children's mother. "Though Idon't know that I should have known you if I had met you in thestreet. "

"No, I've changed a lot, I suppose, " said the old man. 

"And you have been in the wreck! You are hurt!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Shall I get a doctor?"

"Oh, I'm not hurt anything to speak of, " said the man. "Just shaken upa bit and scratched. I'll be all right once I get a cup of tea. "

After supper Flossie and Freddie, as had been promised, were taken upon their father's lap, and they listened to one of daddy's wonderfulmake-believe stories. 

"Please put a fairy in it!" Flossie had begged. 

"And I want a fireman in it!" exclaimed Freddie. 

"Very well then, I'll tell about a fairy fireman who used to put outfires by squirting magical water on them from a morning glory flower, "said Mr. Bobbsey. 

This pleased both the little children, and when they had listened tothe very end, with eyes that were almost closed in sleep, they weretaken off to bed. 

"Now, if you'll come with me to the library I'll let you tell me yourstory, " said Mr. Bobbsey to Hiram Hickson. 

Bert and Nan, who did not have to go to bed as early as did Flossieand Freddie, rather hoped they might sit up and hear the queer man'sstory. But in this they were disappointed. 

However, Mr. Bobbsey let them hear, the next morning, the reason whyMr. Hickson had traveled to Lakeport. 

"He really was coming to see me, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "He wants work, hesays, and, as he knows something of the lumber trade and as he knew Ihad a lumberyard, he came to me. "

"But hasn't he any folks of his own?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey who, like thechildren, was listening to her husband. 

"He has two sons, but he doesn't know where they are, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Did they get hurt in railroad wrecks?" asked Freddie. 

"No, I don't believe so, " replied his father. "It is rather a sadstory. Hiram Hickson is a strange man. He is kind, but he is queer, and once, many years ago, while his two boys were living with him, there was a quarrel. Mr. Hickson says, now, that it was his fault. Anyhow, his two boys ran away, and he has never seen them since. "

"Doesn't he know where they are?" asked Bert. 

"No, he hasn't the least idea. At first he didn't try to find them, for he was angry with them, and he thinks they were angry with him. But, as the years passed, and he felt that he had not done exactlyright toward his boys, he began to wish he could find them. 

"But he could not, though he wrote to many places. His wife was dead, and he was left all alone in the world. He has a little money, but notmuch, and, as he is strong and healthy, he felt that he wanted to goto work. He has about given up, now, trying to find his two boys, William--or Bill, as he usually called him--and Charles, and what hewants is a home and some work by which he can make a living. "

"Where is he going to work?" asked Nan

"He is going to work in my lumberyard, " answered her father. "I need agood, honest man, and though Hiram Hickson is a bit queer, I know heis good and honest. I am going to give him work. "

"And where is he going to live?" asked Bert. 

"Here, with us, for a while, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. "We have room forhim, and, as he is an old friend, and as he was once very kind to me, I want to do all I can for him. 

"I said he could have a room in the house but he says he is used toliving alone of late and so he is going to take one of the rooms overthe stable, or what used to be the stable, before we got theautomobile. Dinah and Sam have their rooms there, but there is anotherroom for Mr. Hickson. So he will be like part of the family, and Iwant you children to be kind to him, as he has had trouble. "

"I like him!" declared Bert. 

"So do I, " said Nan. 

"Come, children, " said their mother, "it is time to go to school; andthere goes Mr. Hickson to work in daddy's lumberyard!"

CHAPTER V

NEWS FROM THE WEST

The Bobbsey twins looked from the window and saw Hiram Hickson walkingthrough the yard on his way from the garage. He had slept all night inthe comfortable room in the former stable, where Dinah and Sam alsolived. 

As the old man passed he saw Flossie and Freddie and Bert and Nanlooking from the window at him. He smiled up at the children, andwaved his hand to them. 

"He looks a little like Uncle Daniel, doesn't he?" remarked Bert. 

"Yes, " agreed Nan. "Only his hair is whiter. I guess he's had lots oftroubles. "

"Maybe about his two sons, " Bert went on, as the old man passed fromsight toward the lumberyard. "I wish we could help him find them. "

"I don't see how we could ever do that, " returned Nan. 

Flossie and Freddie stood with their noses pressed against the windowglass, looking at Mr. Hickson until he was out of sight down thestreet. Then they got down off the chairs on which they had beenkneeling, and Freddie asked:

"May I have an apple dumpling to take to school, Mother?"

"An apple dumpling to take to school!" she exclaimed. "Why, what inthe world do you want to do that for?"

"I want it to eat at recess, " explained the little fellow. "All theboys bring something to eat. "

"And so do the girls, " added Flossie. "I want something to eat, too. And Dinah is baking apple dumplings this morning--I smelled 'em whenshe opened the oven door. "

"Well, I'm afraid apple dumplings are too big to take to school for arecess lunch, " said Mrs. Bobbsey with a laugh. "I'll get Dinah to giveyou some cookies, though. "

And Dinah not only gave some to Flossie and Freddie, but to Bert andNan. Then, happy and laughing, the Bobbsey twins started for school. 

"Did you go down and see the big railroad wreck yesterday?" askedDanny Rugg of Bert at the school-yard gate. 

"Sure I saw it, " was the answer. 

"And we got a man out of it, too, " said Nan. 

"You got a man out of the wreck! What do you mean?" exclaimed Danny. "Did you go down and pull him out?"

"No, " Nan went on. "But we saw him, and he's at our house now. "

"He works for my father, " said Bert, and he told the story of HiramHickson, not speaking, however, about the two sons of the old man whohad run away from him because of a quarrel. Bert did not think hisfather would like to have him tell this outside the family. 

"I was right close to the engine when it puffed out a lot of steam, "said Danny Rugg. "And I ran away like anything!"

"So did we!" said Bert. 

All the boys and girls were talking about the wreck that morning, andbecause they had had such a curious part in it--having at their homeone of the passengers who had been hurt--Bert and Nan were the centerof a little throng that wanted to hear, over and over again, about it. So the older Bobbsey twins told all they knew concerning it from thetime of having first heard about the wreck from Charley Mason untilthey came home accompanied by Hiram Hickson, who had been slightlyhurt in the accident. 

"Is he all right now?" Danny Rugg wanted to know. 

"Oh, yes. He's gone to work in my father's lumberyard, " explainedBert. "I'm going to stop in to see him this afternoon. "

"Can't we go, too?" asked Danny, as he and Charley Mason walked backinto the school with Bert, some of the talk having taken place atrecess. 

"Yes, I guess so, " was the answer. 

Bert often stopped at the lumberyard on his way home from school. Heliked to play among the piles of logs and sawed boards, as did theother boys. Flossie and Freddie liked this, too, but they were notallowed to climb around on the lumber piles unless their father orsome other older person was with them. Often Bert and Nan made "sea-saws" on a lumber pile, but to-day Nan wanted to hurry home with GraceLavine and Nellie Parks, for they had a new story book they werereading together, and over which they were very much excited, eachpretending she was one of the principal characters. 

So, after school was out, and the cookies which Dinah had given thechildren had been eaten down to the last crumbs, Nan took Flossie andFreddie home with her, and Bert and some of his boy chums went to thelumberyard. On the way they made snowballs and threw them at trees andfences. 

"There he is!" said Bert to Charley and Danny, as they saw Mr. Hicksonmeasuring a pile of boards and marking the lengths down in a book. "There's the man that came out of the railroad wreck!"

"Pooh, he isn't hurt a bit!" exclaimed Danny Rugg. "I thought you saidhis head was cut, Bert Bobbsey!"

"'Tis cut!" declared Bert. "Isn't your head cut, and weren't you hurtin the railroad wreck?" cried Bert, as Mr. Hickson waved his hand ingreeting. 

"Well, it isn't cut much--you can see where it is, " and, taking offhis hat, the old man showed the boys a piece of sticking plaster whichhad been put over the cut. 

"There! What'd I tell you?" cried Bert. 

Danny and Charley said nothing. They were satisfied now that they hadactually seen the man himself and the cut he had got in the wreck. 

The three boys played about on the lumber piles until it was time forthem to go home, and Bert promised to bring his chums next day to havemore fun on the masses of lumber. Some of the boards were so stackedup that there were spaces between, and these the boys played were"robber-caves. "

It was nearing the end of winter when the railroad wreck had takenplace. There was still plenty of snow and ice, but the sun was slowlyworking his way back from the south, where he had stayed so long, andeach day brought spring nearer. 

Mr. Hickson continued to live in his room over the Bobbsey garage. Heliked it there, and he liked his work in the lumberyard. Mr. Bobbseysaid the former Cedarville man was a good helper, and he was glad hehad been able to hire him. 

"And do you think he'll ever find his two boys?" asked Bert one day, when he and Nan had been talking to their father about Mr. Hickson. 

"I'm afraid he'll never find them now, it has been so many years sincethey went away, " explained Mr. Bobbsey. "They were boys then, sixteenor seventeen years old, and now they would be grown men. No, I don'tbelieve Mr. Hickson will ever find his sons, though I wish he might, for I think it would make him much happier. "

Bert and Nan wished they might help their father's friend to find hissons, but they did not see how it could be done. They even talkedabout it to Miss Pompret, the woman whose rare china they had sostrangely discovered. 

"Well, you Bobbsey twins are very lucky, " said Miss Pompret, when Nanand Bert were at her house one early spring day. "You were very luckyabout my china, and maybe you will be lucky about Mr. Hickson's sons. I hope he finds them. It is very sad to be old and to have no one inthe world who really belongs to you. I hope you may be able to helphim. "

As has been said, the spring had come. The Bobbsey twins and the otherchildren of Lakeport had made the most of winter while it lasted. Theyhad built snow houses, snow men and had had snowball battles--atleast--Bert, Charley Mason and Danny Rugg and the bigger boys, as wellas Nan and her particular girl friends, had. The smaller ones, likeFreddie, had coasted downhill on their sleds. This was fun in whichFlossie also shared. 

April came with plenty of showers, but the showers brought the Mayflowers, just as it says in the little verse. And then came June, which seemed the best month of all. 

"Aren't you glad?" asked Bert of Nan, as four Bobbsey twins were ontheir way to school one beautiful June morning, when the birds weresinging and the flowers in the yards along the way were all inblossom. 

"Glad? What for?" asked Nan. 

"'Cause school will soon be over and we'll have a long vacation, "answered Bert. 

"Oh, that's so!" agreed Nan. "We have only a few more weeks of school. I hope I pass my examinations. "

"I hope so, too, " agreed Bert. "I'm going to study real hard. "

"So'm I!" murmured Nan. "Oh, look! There goes Mr. Hickson on a pile ofdaddy's lumber!" she cried. "Maybe he'll give us a ride to school. "

They shouted to the old man, who was now one of the best of Mr. Bobbsey's helpers in the lumberyard. 

"Whoa, Esmeralda!" called Mr. Hickson to the horse he was driving. "What is it?" he asked of the Bobbsey twins, who were on the sidewalk. "Did you want me?" he asked. "The boards rattle so I couldn't hearwhat you said. There hasn't been another railroad wreck, has there?"and he smiled. 

"No, " answered Bert. "But could you give us a ride to school, ifyou're going down that way?"

"I am and I will, " answered Mr. Hickson. "Wait a minute, Flossie andFreddie, " he called to the smaller children. "I'll help you up. Nowdon't run away, Esmeralda!" he called to the horse. 

"Oh, she won't run! She's the slowest horse daddy has!" laughed Nan. 

"She's a good horse, though, " said Mr. Hickson, as he carefully putFlossie and Freddie up on the boards on the wagon. "Yes, she's a goodhorse, but she's getting old like me. Now are you up, Bert and Nan?"he asked, as he saw Bert helping his sister to her place. 

"All ready!" Bert answered. 

"Get along, Esmeralda!" called the man to the horse, and so theBobbsey twins had a ride to school. 

"Let's go down and play on your father's lumber piles to-day, " saidDanny Rugg to Bert, when school was out in the afternoon. 

"Yes, we had a dandy time the other day!" chimed in Charley Mason. "Let's go again. "

"All right, we'll go!" agreed Bert. 

But when he and the two boys reached the yard where the sweet-smellingboards were piled in great heaps, Bert saw his father coming from theoffice. 

"May we play on the lumber?" asked Bert. 

"Yes, but come home early, " Mr. Bobbsey answered. "I'm going home now, Bert, and I think you'd better come soon. "

"Is anything the matter?" asked the boy, for he knew it was early forhis father to leave his office unless something had happened. 

"Nothing serious, " was the answer. "But I have just had some strangenews from the West, and I want to tell your mother about it. The newscame in a letter, and it may make a big change in our plans for thesummer. "

CHAPTER VI

AUNT EMELINE

When Bert Bobbsey reached home that afternoon, having stopped his playon the lumber piles with Charley and Danny earlier than usual, thesmall boy saw his father and mother talking together on the sideporch. Nan, Nellie Parks, and Grace Lavine were down in the yard underthe shady grapevine playing. 

"Well, I don't see anything for us to do except to go out West, " Bertheard his father saying. 

"Oh, do you really mean that?" cried the boy. "Are we going out Westwhere there are Indians and cowboys and ponies and mountains and--andeverything?"

His eyes were wide open with excitement. 

"I didn't think you were around, or I wouldn't have spoken so loudly, "said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. 

"But, tell me, Daddy! Are we really going out West?" asked Bert. "I'vealways wanted to go there, and I guess Nan has, too. "

"Oh, you can depend upon it, Nan will always want to go where you go, and so will Flossie and Freddie, for that matter!" said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a laugh. 

Bert had passed his small brother and sister as he entered the yard. They were playing with a little cart of Freddie's, and, as you caneasily guess, Freddie was pretending he was a fireman. 

"When are we going?" asked Bert. "Can't we go right away? School isalmost over, and I know I'm going to pass 'cause the teacher said so. Nan is, too!"

"My, but you are getting in a hurry!" said Mr. Bobbsey. "We have onlyjust begun to talk of the West and here you are stopping school togo. "

"But what is it all about?" Bert went on. "Why do you have to go outWest, Daddy? Aren't you going to have the lumberyard any more?"

"Oh, indeed I am, and perhaps a larger one than before if things turnout the way I expect, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. "But here comes Nan, " hewent on. "I think we might as well tell her and Bert all about it, " hesaid to his wife. "If we go out West Bert and Nan will have to makebelieve they are almost grown up. "

"What's it all about?" asked Nan, as she sat down on the steps besideher brother. Grace and Nellie had gone home to help their mothers getsupper. 

"Well, to begin at the beginning, " said Mr. Bobbsey, "I had a letterto-day from some lawyers out West. Children, your mother has been lefta cattle ranch and a lumber tract by a relative who died and made hiswill in your mother's favor. "

"A cattle ranch?" cried Nan. "Oh, I know what that is! We have apicture of one in our geography! There's a lot of cattle in thepicture, and cowboys are catching them with lassos. "

"Yes, that's one of the things that happen on a ranch, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, your mother now owns one of those. "

"She does?" cried Nan with wide-open eyes. "Oh, what are you going todo with it?"

"I'm going to be a cowboy on it!" decided Bert, as quickly as that. "I've always wanted to be a cowboy, and now I'm going to. When can Igo on your ranch, Mother?" and jumping up eagerly he stood beside her, waiting for her answer. 

"Oh, but, dear boy! I don't know anything about it yet, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The letter has just come, and your father and I were talkingover the news when you came. Poor Uncle Watson! I never knew him verywell, though I had heard he was quite rich. But I never expected hewould leave me his fine ranch, to say nothing of a lumber tract. "

"What's a lumber tract?" Nan asked. "Is it a lumberyard like yours, Daddy?"

"No, my dear, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. "A lumber tract is what youchildren would call big woods. It is a place where trees grow that maybe cut down and made into lumber. All the boards and planks in mylumberyard were once big trees, growing out West, or up North, or downSouth. Now it seems that your mother's uncle owned a big forest oftrees where lumber is cut, as well as owning a cattle ranch. "

"And has he left them both to you?" asked Bert. 

"Yes, " his mother answered. "And the letter from the lawyers who madeUncle Watson's will tells me that I had better come out to look afterthe property that has been left to me. "

"Are you going?" Nan wanted to know. 

"I think I must, " Mrs. Bobbsey replied. "It isn't every day I have somuch property given me. I must go out West to look after it. But daddyis coming with me, so I'll be all right. "

"Hurray!" cried Bert, tossing his hat into the air. 

"What are you 'hurrahing' about?" asked his father. 

"'Cause I'm going to be a cowboy on mother's ranch!" answered Bert. "Whoop-la! I'll be a lumberman, too, part of the time!"

"Now wait a minute, Son, " said Mr. Bobbsey gently. "I don't want tospoil your fun, but we can't take you out West with us. "

"You can't?" cried Bert. "Why, I thought we could all go--Nan, Flossie, Freddie, everybody!"

"No, I don't see how we can take you children, " said Mr. Bobbsey, while his wife also shook her head. "You see we have to leave in ahurry, and it would not do to take you youngsters out of school. Wewill not be gone longer than we can help. "

"And have we got to stay here all alone?" asked Nan, and there was asuspicion of tears in her voice. 

"You won't mind staying here, " said her mother. "There will be Dinahto cook for you and to look after Freddie and Flossie. Sam will bearound the house all the while, and there will be Mr. Hickson, too. Besides this we have a surprise for you. "

"What is it?" cried Bert. "Are you going to take us after all? Oh, sayyou are! Tell me you were only fooling when you said we would have tostay here all alone!"

"No, I wasn't fooling, " replied his mother. "I don't really see how wecan take you children West with us. But the surprise is this. I amgoing to ask Aunt Emeline to come and stay with you, to keep house foryou while your father and I are away. Aunt Emeline will come. "

"Oh, Aunt Emeline!" gasped Nan. 

"Aunt Emeline!" cried Bert. "Why she--she--"

Then he stopped short. He knew what he had been going to say was notpolite. 

"Aunt Emeline will be very kind to you, " went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "I willgo in and write to her now, asking her to come. "

"And I must go in and telephone, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "If I am to goWest I shall have a lot of work to do to get ready. "

Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey entered the house, leaving Nan and Bert sittingout on the steps. For a moment or two the Bobbsey twins said nothing. They could hear Flossie and Freddie in the front yard laughingtogether as they played their games. Then Bert looked at Nan. 

"Aunt Emeline!" he said, in a strange voice. 

"Aunt Emeline!" responded Nan, and she sighed. 

"I'll have to wipe my feet three times every time I come into thehouse once!" went on Bert, in a grumbly voice. "She'll always belooking at my hands to see if they're clean and--and--Oh, I don't wantAunt Emeline to come!" he exclaimed. 

"She never likes to have me run, " said Nan, and her voice was gloomy. "She won't want me to have the other girls in here to play up in theattic, and she doesn't believe in eating cookies between meals!"

"It's going to be awful--terrible!" exclaimed Bert. "I know what I'mgoing to do!" he declared desperately. 

"What?" asked Nan, in a frightened sort of voice. 

"I'm going to run away, like Mr. Hickson's boys did!" Bert went on. "You can run away with me if you want to, Nan!" he added. "I'm goingto be a cowboy and you can be the cook at the ranch. "

"What ranch?" asked Nan. 

"The one mother is going to get by Uncle Watson's will, " explained herbrother. "That's where I'm going to run to. I wouldn't run away tojust any old place, but mother and father won't mind if I run off toour own ranch. They'll be glad to see me. Will you come, Nan?"

His sister shook her head. 

"No, " she answered. "Aunt Emeline is terrible, but she isn't badenough to run away from, and maybe she'll be different now. "

"She can't ever be any different, " declared Bert. "I guess she meansto be kind and good, but, say, a fellow can't be always washing hishands and wiping his feet!"

"And a girl's got to run and romp sometimes, " added Nan. "But we'llhave to do as father and mother want us to, I guess. "

"Oh, I s'pose so!" agreed Bert. "Well, maybe I won't run away if youaren't coming with me. But I'd like to!" he said. 

Flossie and Freddie heard something of the plans. They did notremember Aunt Emeline very well, though Bert and Nan easily recalledthe queer old lady, who really was very particular when it came tochildren. She never had had any of her own, and perhaps this made adifference. 

At first Flossie and Freddie had clamored to be taken out West withtheir father and mother, as Bert and Nan had done. But when told theymust stay at home and help Bert and Nan keep house, they seemed to besatisfied. They were some years younger than the older Bobbsey twins. 

"I'll put out the fire if our house starts to burn while you're away, "Freddie promised. 

"There'll not be much danger of fire with Aunt Emeline here to lookafter things, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I wouldn't leave my children withevery one, but I know they'll be safe with Aunt Emeline, " she said toDinah. 

"Yassum, dey's suah gwine to be _safe!_" declared the fat, jollycolored cook. "She suah will look after 'em! But will dey gets enoughto _eat?_ Dat's whut I'se askin' yo'!" and she looked earnestlyat Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"Well, you'll be doing the cooking as usual. Dinah, " said thechildren's mother. "I depend on you to feed them well. "

"Dat's all right, den!" exclaimed Dinah, with a satisfied air. "Iknows she won't starve 'em at de table, even ef she suah has terrible'tickler manners. But ef she says dey shan't eat 'tween meals, denI'll says to her as how dey can. I ain't gwine to hab mah honey lambsstarvin', dat's whut I ain't!" and Dinah shook her woolly head. 

"Oh, Aunt Emeline isn't as bad as all that, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Sheis strict, I know, but it is for the children's good. I expect aletter from her very soon, saying when she can come. As soon as shecan Mr. Bobbsey and I will start for the West. "

Bert and Nan tried to be cheerful as the days passed, and they thoughtmore and more of their father and mother going away from them. Flossieand Freddie had fretted a little at first, but, being younger, theywere over it more quickly. 

At last the letter came from Aunt Emeline. Bert and Nan were home whentheir mother read it to their father. A look of surprise came overMrs. Bobbsey's face as she read. 

"Dear me, " she exclaimed, "this is quite surprising!"

"What is it?" asked her husband. 

"Aunt Emeline can't come to stay with the children while we go West, "was the answer. "She says she is too old to take charge of a house andfour children now, and she begs to be excused. Aunt Emeline isn'tcoming after all!"

Bert and Nan had hard work not to shout: Hurrah!

Mr. Bobbsey took the letter to read for himself. 

"Then I'm sure I don't know what we're going to do, " he said. "All ourplans are made for going out West to look after the lumber tract andthe cattle ranch. If Aunt Emeline can't come to stay with thechildren, what are we going to do?"

CHAPTER VII

HAPPY DAYS

Mr. Bobbsey sat looking at Aunt Emeline's letter, reading parts of itover again. Mrs. Bobbsey watched her husband. The Bobbsey twins lookedat their father and mother. A great hope was beginning to come intothe hearts of Bert and Nan. 

As for Flossie and Freddie, they were rather too small to know what itwas all about, but they realized that something had happened that didnot happen every day. 

"What's the matter, Mommie?" asked Freddie, slipping down out of hischair and going over to her. He saw that she was worried. "Have yougot the toothache?" he wanted to know. Once Freddie's tooth had achedand he knew how it hurt. 

"No, dear, " answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "I haven't the toothache. But Ihave a letter from Aunt Emeline and she can't come to stay with youchildren while daddy and I go out West. "

"Aunt Emeline not come?" repeated Freddie. 

"No, dear. She thinks she is too old to look after you four livelyyoungsters. And perhaps she is right. I wouldn't want to make too muchwork for her. "

"Aunt Emeline not coming!" said Freddie again in a thoughtful voice. "Ho! Then I go and get a cookie!"

Nan and Bert burst out laughing. 

"What's the matter?" asked their father and mother, as Freddie slippeddown out of his mother's lap, into which he had climbed, and startedfor the kitchen to find Dinah. "What made you laugh, Bert?" asked hismother. 

"Oh, I guess Freddie must have heard Nan and me talking about AuntEmeline not letting us have anything to eat except at meal time, "replied Bert. "And, now she isn't coming, he thinks he can have acookie whenever he wants it. "

"Oh, I see!" and Mr. Bobbsey smiled. "Well, Aunt Emeline may bestrict, but she is a very good housekeeper. I am sorry she can notcome to stay while we are in the West. I really don't know what we aregoing to do. "

"Nor I, " sighed Mrs. Bobbsey. "We counted on Aunt Emeline all thewhile, and now I don't know whom else I can get on such short notice. Can't we wait a while about going West?" she asked her husband. 

"I don't very well see how we can wait, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Thetickets are bought, and all my plans are made. I have hired a man tocome to the lumber office while I am away. I have written the men atthe timber tract and at the cattle ranch that we are coming. Now, whatare we to do?"

"We can't leave the children here alone, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "That iscertain. "

"No, we couldn't do that, " agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "As good a cook asDinah is, and careful as Sam is, we couldn't leave the children withthem. "

"Dinah gave me a cookie, an' she says she'll give you one, too, if youwant it, Flossie, " announced Freddie, coming into the room then, munching a sweet cake. 

"Course I want it!" exclaimed the little "fat fairy, " as her fathercalled her, and she slipped out of her mother's lap, where she hadclimbed after Freddie got down, and, like her brother, hurried to thekitchen. 

"Well, since we can't leave the children here at home by themselves, or only with Dinah and Sam, " said Mr. Bobbsey, after a pause, "thereis only one thing to do. "

"You mean we must stay at home?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, and the hearts ofBert and Nan felt very sad indeed. 

"Stay at home? No, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "We must take thechildren with us!"

"Out West?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"Yes, out West!" her husband said. "We'll take the children with ussince Aunt Emeline can't come to stay with them. "

"Hurray!" cried Bert. 

"Oh, I'm so glad!" echoed Nan. 

"Yes, that will be the best way out of it, " went on Mr. Bobbsey to hiswife, after Bert and Nan had stopped dancing around the room, handsjoined, with Flossie and Freddie in the ring they made, the twoyounger twins each eating one of Dinah's cookies. "We'll take theBobbsey twins out West. "

"But what about school?" asked his wife, who just happened to thinkthat the summer term would not end for about three weeks. 

"Oh we don't need to go to school!" said Bert. 

"We can take our books with us and study on the train, " suggested Nan. 

"I fear there wouldn't be much studying done, " laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. "But do you really think we might take the children out of school?"she asked. 

"That is something we will have to find out about, " her husbandanswered. "Of course it will not be much loss to Flossie and Freddie, as they are not as far along in their studies as are Nan and Bert. ButI wouldn't like to have them lose much of their lessons. "

"Teacher said I was at the head of my class, and I'd pass easy!"declared Bert. 

"And my teacher said I was one of her best students, " added Nan. Sheand Bert were in the same grade but in different classes. 

"Well, since we really have to go out West to look after the lumberand cattle properties that are to be your mother's, " said Mr. Bobbsey, "and since we must take you children with us, I'll see your teachers, Bert and Nan, and ask them if it will put you back much to lose thelast two weeks of the term. "

"Oh, goodie! Goodie!" shrieked Nan, jumping up and down. 

"Hurray!" cried Bert. "Now I'm going to be a cowboy. Whoop!"

"Mercy me!" exclaimed their mother, covering her ears with her handsas Bert and Nan shouted loudly. 

"Come on, Flossie!" called Freddie to his small sister. "Let's go andask Dinah for more cookies. "

That was Freddie's way of celebrating the good news. 

Then came happy days. 

Mr. Bobbsey, once he had made up his mind that the children were to goout West with him and his wife, went to the school and saw theteachers who had charge of Bert and Nan. He found that the olderBobbsey twins were so well along in their studies that it would nothold them back in the fall to stop now. So they were given permissionto leave school before the regular time. 

There was no trouble at all about Flossie and Freddie. They had simplelessons, and they could easily be taught at home to make up for thetime they would lose. 

It was arranged that Dinah and Sam should stay at home in the Bobbseyhouse to look after it during the summer, while Mr. And Mrs. Bobbseyand the twins went out West. 

"And be sure to feed Snap!" said Bert to Sam, as the colored man wascutting the grass on the lawn one day, while the dog frisked aboutchasing sticks that Bert and Freddie tossed here and there for him. 

"Oh, I won't forget Snap!" promised Sam. 

"And you must give Snoop a saucer of milk every day, Dinah!" said Nan, as she rubbed the black cat which was purring around her legs. 

"Oh, indeedy Snoop and I am mighty good friends!" declared Dinah. "Isuah won't forget to feed Snoop!"

Mr. Bobbsey bought other tickets, so he could take the children on theWestern trip. He made all the arrangements, trunks were packed, andfinally, one day, Bert and Nan and Flossie and Freddie said good-byeto their school chums. 

"I'm going out West to learn to be a cowboy!" said Bert. 

"I wish I was going!" exclaimed Danny Rugg. 

"So do I, " said Charley Mason. 

"I'll see some Indians, too, " Bert went on. 

"And will you see those darling little papooses they carry on theirbacks?" asked Nellie Parks. 

"I guess I'll see them, " Nan said. "I don't like Indian men and women, but the babies must be cute. "

"Wouldn't it be great if you could get an Indian doll?" asked Grace. 

"Indians don't have dolls!" declared Danny. 

"Indian girls do!" exclaimed Nellie. "I saw a picture in one of mybooks of an Indian girl, and she had a doll made of corn silk and acorncob and some tree bark. "

"What a funny doll!" exclaimed Grace. "Do try and bring one home, Nan!"

"I will, " she promised. 

Bert and Nan were so excited at the prospect of going West that iftheir father and mother had expected the children to pack the trunksand valises it never would have been done. But Mrs. Bobbsey knewbetter than to expect this. She and Dinah looked after the packing. 

Flossie and Freddie, of course, were too small to do any of this, though one day Mrs. Bobbsey saw the little boy stuffing something intoan old stocking. 

"Freddie Bobbsey, what are you doing?" asked his mother. 

"Dinah gave me some cookies, " was the answer, "and I'm goin' to take'em out West with me. Maybe I'll get hungry, an' maybe I'll get lost, or carried off by the Indians, an' then I'll have cookies to eat!"

"Oh, dear me! you can't take a lot of cookies in a stocking, " laughedMrs. Bobbsey. 

"There'll be plenty to eat out West. As for getting lost, I supposeyou will do that; you always have, but we manage to find you. However, I hope you won't get lost too often. And I don't think you'll becarried off by the Indians. Or, if so, they'd return you quickly. "

The happy days seemed to grow happier as the time came nearer to takethe train for the great West. One afternoon, the day before theBobbsey twins were to start, Bert and Nan went down to their father'slumberyard office with a message sent by their mother. 

"What's all this I hear about you?" asked Mr. Hickson, the old man whohad been in the railroad wreck. He was out loading a wagon withboards. "What are you children going to do out West?" he asked them. 

"I'm going to learn to be a cowboy, " declared Bert. 

"And I'm going to get an Indian doll!" said Nan. 

"My goodness!" exclaimed the old man, smiling at the Bobbsey twins, for he liked them very much. "I hope you have a good time. That's whatmakes children happy--to have a good time. I wish I could find mychildren. I haven't seen my boys, Charley and Bill, for a long while. They must be grown-up men now. Yes, I certainly wish I could findCharley and Bill. It was all a mistake when they ran away from home. Iwish I had them back, " and slowly and sadly shaking his head he wenton loading the lumber wagon. 

Bert and Nan felt sorry for Mr. Hickson, and they wished they mighthelp him find his "boys, " as he called Bill and Charley, though, as hesaid, they must be grown men now. But Bert and Nan had too many thingsto think about in getting ready to go out West to feel sorry verylong. They took the message to their father and then hurried home. 

CHAPTER VIII

OFF FOR THE WEST

Monday morning was the day set for the start of the Bobbsey twins forthe great West. They had said good-bye to their school friends theFriday before, and now, while the bells were ringing to call the otherboys and girls to their classes, Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie stoodon their front porch and watched their friends go past. "Oh, but youare lucky!" called Danny Rugg to Bert, as the Bobbseys waved theirhands to him. 

"I wish I could be you!" added Charley Mason, as he swung his strap ofbooks over his head. "I'm going out West to be a cowboy when I growup. "

"I'll tell you all about it when I come back, " promised Bert. 

Nan's girl friends, as they went past on their way to school, blewkisses to her from their hands, and wished her all sorts of good luck. 

Flossie and Freddie were too busy running around and playing hide-and-go-seek among the trunks to pay much attention to their little schoolfriends who went past the house. 

The trunks and valises had been stacked on the front porch, and in alittle while Mr. Hickson was to come with his lumber wagon to takethem to the station. Later the Bobbseys would go down in theautomobile, one of the men from Mr. Bobbsey's office bringing it back. Sam Johnson, though he used to drive the Bobbsey horse when they hadone, never could get used to an automobile, he said. 

Snap, the jolly dog, seemed to know that something out of the ordinarywas going on. He did not run about and play as he nearly always did, but stayed close to Bert and Nan. He seemed to know they were goingaway from him. 

"You'll have to watch Snap, " said Mrs. Bobbsey to Sam. "He may try tosneak after us and get on the train, as he did once before. Mr. Bobbsey had to get off at the next station and bring him back. "

"Yassum, I'll watch Snap, " promised Sam. "But he suah does want to gowif yo' all pow'ful bad!"

"I wish we could take Snap and Snoop!" said Bert. 

"Oh, dear boy, we couldn't think of it!" exclaimed his mother. "Wehave a long way to travel to get to the West, and we couldn't lookafter a cat and a dog. They'll be much better off here at home. "

"Snoop maybe will, " argued Bert, "'cause he doesn't like to have roughfun the way Snap does. But I guess my dog would like to see an Indianand some cowboys!"

However, the older Bobbsey twins knew it was out of the question totake their pets with them, so they made the best of it, Bert pettingSnap and talking kindly to him. Snoop had gone out to the barn wherehe knew he might catch a mouse. 

In a little while Mr. Hickson drove up for the trunks which wereloaded on the lumber wagon. 

"You're going to have a fine day to start for the West, " said the oldman, who had entirely got over his hurt got in the railroad wreck. "Avery fine day!"

The June sun was shining, there was just enough wind to stir theleaves of the trees, and, as Mr. Hickson said, it was indeed a fineday for going out West, or anywhere else. Very happy were the Bobbseytwins. 

With rattles and bangs, the trunks were piled on the lumber wagon, such valises as were not to be carried by Mr. Or Mrs. Bobbsey, or Bertor Nan, were put in among the trunks. Flossie and Freddie were each tocarry a basket which contained some things their mother thought mightbe needed on the trip. 

"All aboard!" called Mr. Hickson, as he took his seat and gathered upthe reins. 

"That's what the conductor on the train says!" laughed Freddie, as heand Flossie had to stop playing hide-and-go-seek among the trunks. 

"Well, I'm making believe this lumber wagon is a train, " went on theold man. "I wish it was a train, and that I was going out West to findmy two boys, Charley and Bill. " Then he drove off with his head bowed. 

"When do we start?" asked Bert. It was about the tenth time he hadasked that same question that morning. 

"We're going to leave soon now, " his mother told him. "Don't go away, any of you. Nan, you look after Flossie and Freddie. It wouldn'tsurprise me in the least if Freddie were to get lost at the lastminute. "

Just then Freddie and his little sister were running around in theyard, playing tag, and neither of the smaller Bobbsey twins showed anysigns of getting lost. But one never could tell what would happen tothem--never!

Finally everything seemed to be in readiness for the start. The lastwords about looking after the house while the Bobbseys were in theWest had been said to Sam and Dinah, and Mr. Bobbsey had telephonedhis final message to his office to say that he was about to start. Theautomobile had been brought around, and Harry Truesdell, who was todrive it back from the station, was waiting. 

"Come, children, we'll start now!" called Mother Bobbsey. "Get thesatchels you are to carry, Nan and Bert. Where are Flossie andFreddie?" she asked. "I want them to take their baskets. "

"They were here a minute ago, " replied Nan, looking around the yardfor her smaller brother and Flossie. 

"But they're not here now!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "See if you canfind them, Nan. Tell them we must leave now. "

Nan set down the valise she had taken up and was about to go around tothe back yard when some excited cries were heard. Dinah's voicesounded above the others. 

"Heah, now, you stop dat, Freddie Bobbsey!" called the colored cook. "Whut are yo' doin'? Heah, Freddie, yo' let mah clothes line alone!"

There was a moment of silence, and then Dinah's voice went on. 

"Oh, land o' massy! Oh, I 'clare to goodness, yo' suah has gone an'done it now! Oh, mah po' li'l honey lamb! Oh, Freddie, look what youhas gone an' done!"

At this moment the crying voice of Flossie was heard. The little girlseemed to be in trouble. 

"I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!" shouted Freddie. 

"Something has happened!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I knew it would, just at the last minute!"

"It does seem so, " said Mr. Bobbsey, coming out on the porch. "I'll goand see what it is!" he added, as he ran around the side path. 

"I'll come, too, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. And Nan and Bert thought they hadbetter follow. 

They could hear Flossie crying, while Dinah was saying:

"Oh, mah po' li'l honey lamb! Freddie Bobbsey, look whut you gone an'done!"

And Freddie kept saying:

"I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to! I didn't know it was going tocome down!"

"I wonder what it was that came down, " thought Mrs. Bobbsey, as shehurried after her husband, with Bert and Nan bringing up the rear andSnap barking as hard as he could bark. 

When Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey got around to the back yard they saw at aglance what had happened. One of the clothes lines, on which Dinah hadhung the sheets she had just washed, had come down. And two or threesheets had fallen right over Flossie. 

Of course the little girl was not hurt, for the sheets were not heavy. But they were damp from the tub, and Flossie was all tangled up inthem and in the line. In fact, Flossie could not be seen, for she wasbetween the two sides of a sheet, and only that Dinah was there, trying to get her out, told Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey what had happened totheir little girl. Oh, yes! I forgot! Flossie was crying, and that wasa sign she was there, even though she could not be seen. 

Freddie was standing near a clothes post with the kitchen bread knifein his hand. 

"What happened, Dinah?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she helped the fat, colored cook get Flossie out from under the sheets. "What is it allabout?"

"Oh, dat Freddie boy he done cut mah clothes line an' let mah cleanwash down on da ground!" exclaimed Dinah. "I didn't minded DAT somuch!" she said, as she wiped away the tears from the face of thefrightened Flossie. "I kin wash de sheets ober ag'in. But I'm sos'prised dat Freddie done scared his li'l sister, dat's whut I am. Freddie done scared honey lamb mos' to pieces!"

"I--I didn't mean to, " repeated Freddie. 

"But did you really cut down Dinah's wash line?" his mother asked him, when it had been found that Flossie was only frightened and not hurt. 

"I--I cut off a little piece, " said Freddie, showing a dangling end inhis hand. "I didn't think it would fall down. I didn't mean to makeit. "

"But what made you cut any of it?" asked his father, tying the cutends together while Dinah took up the sheets which had fallen to theground and had some black spots on them. "Why did you cut the clothesline, Freddie?"

Mr. Bobbsey did not call his little boy "fireman" now. That was a petname, and used only when Freddie had been good, and he had been alittle bad now, though perhaps he did not mean to. 

"I--I cut the line to get a piece of rope, " said Freddie. 

"What did you want a piece of rope for?" asked his father. 

"I wanted to make a lasso to lasso Indians as Bert's going to do, "Freddie answered. "I wanted a piece of clothes line for a lasso. But Ididn't mean to make the clothes come down. "

"No, I don't guess you did, " said Dinah, as she came out of thelaundry with the sheets which she had rinsed clean. "Ole Dinah donegwine to forgib her honey lamb 'cause he's gwine away far off fromher. An' Dinah's other honey lamb didn't get hurted any. It was onlytwo sheets an' Dinah's done washed 'em clean again. But don't you golassoin' any Injuns, Freddie! Dey mightn't like it. "

"No, I won't!" promised the little fellow. 

"And don't cut any more clothes lines, " added his father. 

"No, sir, I won't!"

Freddie was ready to promise anything, now that he found nothingserious had happened. At first, after he had cut the rope and let thesheets down on Flossie's head as she was running through the yard, Freddie had been very much frightened. 

"Well, I'm glad it was no worse, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, as shestraightened Flossie's hat, which had been knocked to one side. "Nowwe must hurry, or we'll be late for the train. "

"Yes, come along!" called Mr. Bobbsey. 

Freddie gave up the bread knife to Dinah, the last good-byes weresaid, and the children started for the automobile. Snap leaped aroundBert, barking and whining. 

"Better tie up the dog, Sam, or he'll follow us, " said Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Yes, sah. I'll do dat. "

Poor Snap was led away whining. He did not want to be left behind, butit had to be. 

"Good-bye!" called Bert to his pet. "Good-bye, Snap!"

Flossie took up her basket, and Freddie had his. Each one hadsomething to carry. Into the automobile they hurried and soon theywere on the way to the station to take the train for the West. 

They did not have many minutes to wait. Harry Truesdell sat in theautomobile, until Mr. Bobbsey and the family should be aboard thetrain before he went back to the garage. 

The Bobbsey twins were standing on the station platform. Mr. Bobbseywas talking to a man he knew, and Mrs. Bobbsey was speaking to twofriends. Bert and Nan were putting pennies in a weighing machine tosee how heavy they had grown, and Freddie was looking at the pictureson the magazine covers at the news stand. 

Suddenly Flossie, who had set her basket down on one of the outsideseats, gave a cry, "What's the matter?" asked her mother, turning quickly. "What is it, Flossie?"

"Oh, my basket! My basket!" cried the little girl. "There's somethingin it! Something alive! Look, it's wriggling!"

And, surely enough, the basket she had carried, was "wriggling. " Itwas swaying from side to side on the station seat. 

CHAPTER IX

DINNER FOR TWO

Freddie Bobbsey, called away from looking at the magazine pictures onthe news stand, came running over when he heard Flossie shout. 

"What's the matter?" asked the little boy. "Did something else fall onyou, Flossie, like the sheets flopping over your head?"

"No, nothing falled on me!" exclaimed Flossie. "But look! Look at mybasket! It's wriggling!"

"There's something in it!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, while her husbandquickly hurried away from the man to whom he was talking, and preparedto see what the matter was. "There's something in your basket, Flossie! Did you put anything in?"

"No, Mother!" answered the little girl. "I Just put in the things yougave me. And just before I came away I took off the cover to put insome cookies Dinah handed me. "

"I think I can guess what happened, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "While thecover was off the basket something jumped in, Flossie. "

"Oh, I see what it is! A little black squirrel!" cried Nan. 

"Squirrels aren't black!" Bert said. There were some squirrels in thetrees near the Bobbsey house, but all Bert had ever seen were gray orreddish brown. 

"It's something furry, anyhow, " Nan went on. "I can see it through thecracks in the basket. "

And just then, to the surprise of every one looking on, including theBobbsey twins, of course, the cover of the basket was raised bywhatever was wriggling inside, and something larger than a squirrel, but black and furry, looked out. 

"Gee!" exclaimed Bert. 

"Oh, it's Snoop!" cried Nan. 

"It's our cat!" added Freddie. 

"In my basket!" exclaimed Flossie. "How did you get there, Snoop?" sheasked, as Bert took the cat up in his arms, while the other passengersat the station laughed. 

"Perhaps Snoop felt lonesome when he knew you were going to leavehim, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "And when you took off the cover of yourbasket, Flossie, to put in the cookies Dinah gave you, Snoop must haveseen his chance and crawled in. "

"He kept still all the way in the auto, so we wouldn't know he wasthere, " added Nan. 

"Maybe he thought we'd take him with us, " said Bert. "Did you, Snoop?"he asked. But the big black cat, who must have found it rather hardwork to curl up in the basket, snuggled close to Bert, who was alwayskind to animals. 

Just then the whistle of the train was heard down the track. 

"Dear me! what shall we do?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "We can't possiblytake Snoop with us, and we can't leave him here at the depot. "

"Harry will take Snoop back home in the auto, " said Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Yes, give him to me--I'll be careful of him, " promised the young manfrom the lumberyard office, and Bert carried his pet over to thewaiting automobile. 

Snoop mewed a little as Bert put the big, black cat into Harry's arms. 

"Good-bye, Snoop!" Bert said, patting his pet on the head. 

"Come, Bert, hurry!" called his father. 

Then, as the train pulled into the station, Bert ran back and caughtup his valise. The other Bobbsey twins took up their things, Flossieput back on her basket the cover the cat had knocked off in gettingout, and soon they were all on the train. 

"All aboard!" called the conductor, and, as the engine whistled andthe cars began to move, Bert and Nan looked from the windows of theirseats and had a last glimpse of Snoop being held in Harry's arms, ashe sat in the automobile. 

Flossie and Freddie forgot all about their cat, dog, and nearlyeverything in Lakeport in their joy at going out West. For they werereally started on their way now, after several little upsets andtroubles, such as the clothes line coming down on Flossie, and the cathiding himself away in the basket. 

"Well, now I can sit back and rest, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a sigh ofrelief. "I know the children are all here, and they can't get lost fora while, at least, and I don't see what mischief they can get intohere. "

Now, indeed, the children were all right for a time. Freddie sat withhis father, next to the window, and Flossie was in the seat with hermother pressing her little nose close against the glass, so she wouldnot miss seeing anything, as the train flew along. 

Bert and Nan were sitting together, Nan being next to the window. Berthad, very politely, let his sister have that place, though he wantedit himself. However, before the first part of the journey was overthere was a seat vacant on the other side of the car, and Bert tookthat. Then he, too, had a window. 

Bert and Nan noticed, as the train passed Mr. Bobbsey's lumberyard, Mr. Hickson standing amid a pile of boards. The old man did not seethe children, of course, for the train was going rather swiftly, butthey saw him. 

"I wish we could help him find his two sons, " said Nan to Bert. 

"Yes, I wish we could, " Bert answered. "But it's so long ago maybe Mr. Hickson wouldn't know his boys even if he saw them again. "

"He'd know their names, wouldn't he?" Nan asked. 

"Yes, I s'pose he would, " Bert replied. 

Then the older Bobbsey twins forgot about Mr. Hickson in the joys andnovelty of traveling. 

The Bobbseys were going to travel in this train only as far as ajunction station. There they would change to a through train forChicago, and in that big western city they would again make a change. On this through train Mr. Bobbsey had had reserved for him a drawingroom. That is part of the sleeping car built off from the rest at oneend. 

On arriving at the junction the Bobbseys left the train they had beenon since leaving Lakeport and got on the through train, which drewinto the junction almost as soon as they did. They went into thelittle room at the end of the sleeping coach which Mr. Bobbsey had hadreserved for them. In there the twins had plenty of room to look fromthe windows, as no other passengers were in with them. 

"It's just like being in our own big automobile, " said Nan, and so itwas. The children liked it very much. 

The trip to Chicago would take a day and a night, and Flossie andFreddie, as well as Bert and Nan, were interested in going to sleep ona train in the queer little beds the porter makes up from what areseats in the daytime. 

It was not the first time the children had traveled in a sleeping car, but they were always interested. It did seem queer to them to betraveling along in their sleep. 

"Almost like a dream, " Nan said, and I think she was quite right. 

"Where's my basket?" Flossie asked, after they had ridden on for aboutan hour. 

"Do you want to see if Snap is in it this time?" her father jokinglyinquired. 

"Snap's too big to get in my basket, " Flossie answered. "He's a bigdog. But I want to get some of the cookies Dinah gave me. I'm hungry. "

"So'm I!" cried Freddie, who had been looking from the window. "I wanta cookie too!"

"Dinah gave me some for you, " Flossie said, and, when her basket hadbeen handed down from the brass rack over the seat, she searchedaround in it until she had found what she was looking for--a bag ofmolasses and sugar cookies. 

"Oh, Dinah does make such good cookies!" said Flossie, with her mouthhalf full, though, really, to be polite, I suppose, she should nothave talked that way. 

"Shall we get any cookies out on the cattle ranch?" asked Nan. "If wedon't, Flossie and Freddie will miss them. "

"Oh, they have cooks on ranches, same as they do in lumber camps, "Bert declared. "I saw a picture once of a Chinese cook on a cattleranch. "

"Can a Chinaman cook?" asked Nan, in surprise. "I thought they couldonly iron shirts and collars. "

"Some Chinese are very good cooks, " explained Mr. Bobbsey. "And Bertis right when he says that on some ranches in the West a Chinese mandoes the cooking. I don't know whether we shall find one where we aregoing or not. "

"Are we going to the lumber tract first, or to the ranch?" asked Bert. 

"To where the big trees grow, " answered his father. "The tract yourmother is going to own is near a place called Lumberville. It isseveral hundred miles north and west of Chicago. We will stop offthere, and go on later to the ranch. That is near a place calledCowdon. "

"What funny names, " laughed Bert. "Lumberville and Cowdon. You wouldthink they were named after the trees and the cows. "

"I think they were, " his father said. "Out West they take names thatmean something, and Lumberville and Cowdon just describe the placesthey are named after. "

While Flossie and Freddie were looking from the window of the coach inwhich they were riding, while Bert and Nan were telling one anotherwhat good times they would have on the ranch and in the lumber camp, and while Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey were discussing matters about the trip, there came a knock on the door. 

Mr. Bobbsey opened it and a lady came in, saying:

"I am so glad to see you! I am traveling to Chicago all alone, and Isaw you get on as I looked from my window in the next car. I came backto speak to you. "

"Why, it's Mrs. Powendon!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey as she saw a ladywhom she had first met at a Red Cross meeting. Mrs. Powendon lived ina village near Lakeport, and often came over to see Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey and other friends. "I am very glad you saw us and came in tosee us, " went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "Do sit down! So you are going toChicago?"

"Yes. But what takes you away from Lakeport?"

"I don't suppose you heard the news, but an old uncle of mine, whom Ihad not seen for years, died and left me a western lumber tract and acattle ranch. Mr. Bobbsey and I are on our way there now to look aftermatters, and we had to take the children with us. "

"And I suppose they were very sorry about that, " said Mrs. Powendonwith a smile, as she looked at Nan and Bert. 

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Bert "Indeed we weren't sorry! We're going to havefine times!"

Then Mrs. Powendon sat down and began talking to Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey, while Nan and Bert looked at magazines their father had bought forthem from the train boy. 

No one paid much attention to Flossie and Freddie, and it was notuntil some little time later that Mrs. Bobbsey, looking around thedrawing room, exclaimed:

"Where are they?"

"Who?" asked her husband. 

"Flossie and Freddie. They aren't here!"

That was very evident. There was no place in the little room for themto hide, and yet the children could not be seen. 

"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, "can they have fallen off the train?"

"Of course not!" answered her husband "They must just have goneoutside in the car. I'll look. "

Mr. Bobbsey was about to open the door when a knock came on it, and, as the door swung back, the face of a colored porter looked in. Theman wore a white jacket. 

"'Scuse me, sah, " he said, talking just as Sam Johnson did, "but didyou-all only want dinnah for two?"

"Dinner for two? What do you mean?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Why, dey's two li'l children in de dinin' car. Dey says as how deybelongs back yeah, an' dey's done gone an' ordered dinnah for two--jest fo' der own selves--jest two! I was wonderin' ef you-all folkswasn't goin' to eat!"

CHAPTER X

FREDDIE, AS USUAL

"Dinner for two! Little children!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. 

"It is Flossie and Freddie!" cried his wife. "Where is the diningcar?"

The waiter from the dining car, who had come back to the sleeping carwhere the Bobbseys had their places, smiled as he finished tellingabout the two children. 

"Dey's right up forward in my dinin' car, " he said to Mrs. Bobbsey. "An' dey is all right, too, lady! I tooked good keer ob 'em. Dey jestwalked right in, laik dey owned de place, an' I says to 'em, what willdey hab?

"Dey tells me dat dey done want dinnah fo' two, an' I starts to gib itto 'em, but de conductor says as how dey belonged to a party backheah, an' mebby de odder folks would want somethin' to eat, too. An', as anyhow, dey had bettah be tol'. "

"I'm hungry!" exclaimed Bert. 

"So'm I!" added Nan. 

"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I must go and see about them. "

"We will all go, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "I did not know it was so nearlunch time. But I suppose Freddie and Flossie never forget anything soimportant as that. "

"Trust children to remember their meals!" said Mrs. Powendon. "I fearI am to blame for your two little ones running away. "

"Oh, no, " murmured Mr. Bobbsey. 

"How?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"By coming in here, and talking to you. Probably I left the door ofyour drawing room open. Flossie and Freddie must have slipped out thatway. "

"Very likely they did, " said their father. "But no great harm is done. We will all go to lunch now. Won't you come with us, Mrs. Powendon?"

"Thank you, I will, " answered the lady who had come visiting, and sothe rest of the Bobbseys and their friend went to the dining car. 

There, surely enough, seated at a little table all by themselves, wereFlossie and Freddie. The two tots looked up as their father andmother, with Nan and Bert and Mrs. Powendon, came into the car. 

"I'm going to have a piece of pie!" shouted Freddie so loudly thatevery one in the car must have heard, for nearly every one laughed. 

"So am I going to have pie!" echoed Flossie, and there was anotherlaugh. 

"Well, what have you children to say for yourselves?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, in the voice she used when she was going to scold just alittle bit. "What have you to say, Freddie?"

"I like it in here!" he said. "It's a nice place to eat. "

"And I like it, too!" added Flossie. 

Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey tried not to laugh. 

"But you shouldn't have slipped away while we were talking and come inhere all alone, " went on Mother Bobbsey. "Why did you do it?"

"I was hungry, " said Freddie, and that seemed to be all there was toit. 

"Our cookies were all in crumbs, " explained Flossie. "They wasn't aone left in my basket. I was hungry, too. "

"I presume that's as good an excuse as any, " said Mr. Bobbsey, with alaugh. "And so we'll all sit down and have lunch. "

And while they were eating Flossie and Freddie told how they hadslipped out, when their mother and father were busy talking to Mrs. Powendon, and while Bert and Nan were looking out of the window. Theyhad been in dining cars on railroad trains before, and so they knewpretty nearly what to do. 

But when they ordered dinner for themselves, or at least told thesmiling, black waiter to bring them something to eat, the Pullmanconductor, who had seen the children in the sleeping coach, suspectedthat all was not right, so he sent the waiter back to tell Mrs. Bobbsey about Flossie and Freddie. 

"And you mustn't do it again, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, when the story hadbeen told. 

"No'm, we won't!" promised Freddie. 

"No, he won't do just this again, " said Bert with a laugh to Nan. "Buthe'll do something else just as queer. "

And of course Freddie did. 

After lunch Mrs. Powendon went back to her car, and the Bobbseys tooktheir seats in the drawing room which they occupied. The meal and theriding made Flossie and Freddie sleepy, so their mother fixed a littlebed for them on the long seat, and soon they were dreaming away, perhaps of cowboys and Indians and big trees being cut down in theforest to make lumber for playhouses. 

The train rumbled on, stopping now and then at different stations, and, after a while, even Bert and Nan began to get tired of it, thoughthey liked traveling. 

"How much farther do we have to go?" asked Bert, as the afternoon sunbegan to go down in the west. 

"Oh, quite a long way, " his father answered. "We are not even inChicago yet. We shall get there to-morrow morning, and stay there twodays. Then we will go on to Lumberville. How long we shall stay thereI do not know. But as soon as we can attend to the business and getmatters in shape, we will go on to Cowdon. "

"That's the place I want to get to!" exclaimed Bert. "I want to seesome Indians and cowboys. "

"There may not be any there, " said his mother. 

"What! No cowboys on a ranch?" cried the boy. 

"Why, Mother!" exclaimed Nan. 

"I meant Indians, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Of course there'll be cowboysto look after the cattle, but Indians are not as plentiful as theyonce were, even out West. "

"I only want to see an Indian baby and get an Indian doll, " put inNan. "I don't like grown-up Indians. They have a lot of feathers on, like turkeys. "

"That's what I like!" Bert declared. "If I wasn't going to be a cowboyI'd be an Indian, I guess. "

Night came, and when the electric lights in the cars were turned onFreddie and Flossie awakened from their nap. 

"How do you feel?" asked his mother, as she smoothed her little boy'srumpled hair. 

"I--I guess I feel hungry!" he said, though he was still not quiteawake. 

"So'm I!" added Flossie. You could, nearly always, depend on her tosay and do about the same things Freddie did and said. 

"Well, this is a good time to be hungry, " said Mr. Bobbsey with alaugh. "I just heard them say that dinner was being served in thedining car. We'll go up and eat again. "

After dinner the porter made up the funny little beds, or "berths, " asthey are called, and soon the Bobbsey twins had crawled into them andwere asleep. 

It must have been about the middle of the night that Mrs. Bobbsey, whowas sleeping with Flossie on one side of the aisle, heard a noise justoutside her berth. It was as if something had fallen to the floor witha thud. She opened the curtains and looked out. Freddie and his fatherhad gone to sleep in the berth just across from her, but now she saw alittle white bundle lying on the carpeted floor of the car. 

"What is that? Who is it?" the mother of the twins exclaimed. 

Mr. Bobbsey poked his head out from between his curtains. 

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Anything gone wrong?" he addedsleepily. 

"Look!" exclaimed his wife. "What's that?" and she pointed to thebundle lying on the floor. 

"That? Oh, that must be _Freddie_, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Asusual he's done something we didn't expect. He's fallen out of his carbed. "

CHAPTER XI

IN CHICAGO

Surely enough Freddie Bobbsey had fallen out of bed, or his "berth, "as beds are called in sleeping cars. The little fellow had beenresting with his father, and on the inside, too, But he must havebecome restless in his sleep, and have crawled over Mr. Bobbsey. 

At any rate, when Freddie fell out he made a thud that his mother, inher berth across the aisle, had heard. 

But the carpet on the floor of the car was so soft, and Freddie wassuch a fat, chubby little fellow, and he was so sound asleep, that hewas not at all hurt in his tumble, and he never even awakened. He justwent on sleeping, right there on the floor. 

"Yes, " said Mr. Bobbsey with a smile at his wife as he picked Freddieup, "you can generally depend on his doing something unusual, ordifferent. Well, he's a nice little boy, " he murmured softly, as hepicked up the "fireman" and put him back in the berth. 

Even then Freddie did not completely wake up. But he murmuredsomething in his dreams, though Mr. Bobbsey heard only a few wordsabout Indians and cowboys and sugar cookies. 

"He's hungry even in his sleep!" said the father, with a silent laugh. 

The other Bobbsey twins knew nothing of what had happened untilmorning, when they were told of Freddie's little accident. 

"And did I really fall out of bed?" asked Freddie, himself as muchsurprised as any one. 

"You certainly did!" laughed his mother. "At first I was startled, being aroused so suddenly, but I saw that you were still sleeping andI knew you couldn't be hurt very much. "

"I didn't even feel it!" laughed Freddie. "And now I want mybreakfast!"

"Dear me! You want to eat again, after dreaming about sugar cookies?"cried Mr. Bobbsey, and he told his little boy what he had heard himsay in his sleep. "Well, we had all better go to the dining car again. It will be our last meal there. "

"Our last meal!" cried Bert. "Aren't we going to eat again?"

"Not on this train, " his father answered. "We'll be in Chicago in timefor dinner. "

Breakfast over, the Bobbseys began gathering up their different thingsto be ready to get out at Chicago when the train should reach that bigand busy city. 

It was about ten o'clock when the station was reached, and the Bobbseytwins thought they had never been in such a noisy place, nor one inwhich there were more people. 

But Daddy Bobbsey had traveled to Chicago before, and he knew justwhat to do and where to go. He called an automobile, and in that thewhole family rode to the hotel where they were to stay while they werein the city. 

Two days were to be spent in Chicago, which Mrs. Bobbsey had notvisited for some time. She wanted to look around a little, and showthe children the various sights. Mr. Bobbsey planned to attend to somebusiness in the "Windy City, " as Chicago is sometimes called. 

Both Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey wanted their children to see all there wasto be seen. 

"Travel will broaden their minds, " Mrs. Bobbsey had said to herhusband when they had talked the matter over one night after the twinshad gone to bed. "Just see how much they learned when we took them toWashington. "

"They not only learned something, but they brought back something--Imean Miss Pompret's china pieces, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "Yes, travelingis good for children if they do not do too much of it. "

So when the Bobbsey twins reached the big Chicago hotel they were notas strange and surprised as they would have been if they had neverbeen at a hotel before. 

"I like this better than the hotel we stayed at in Washington, " saidNan to Bert, as they were shown to their rooms, after riding up in anelevator. 

"Yes, you can see lots farther, " agreed Bert, as he glanced from oneof the windows. 

"I didn't mean that, " his sister said. "I mean the curtains and chairsand such things are ever so much nicer. "

"You can't eat curtains!" exclaimed Bert. "And I'm hungry. I hope theyhave good things to eat. "

"I think they will, " his father remarked with a laugh. 

And when, a little later, they went down to the dining room, theBobbsey twins found that it was a very good hotel, indeed, as far asthings to eat were concerned. 

Though Mrs. Bobbsey was very much interested in Chicago, and thoughMr. Bobbsey was glad to get there to look after some matters of hislumber business, I must admit that none of the Bobbsey twins thought agreat deal of the big city. 

"'Tisn't any different from New York!" declared Bert, as he looked atthe big buildings, the elevated roads, the street cars and thehurrying crowds. "I wouldn't know but what I was in New York. "

"Yes, in some ways it is much like New York, " his mother agreed. 

"But there isn't any big lake in New York, such as there is here, "said Nan. 

"Well, I guess the New York Atlantic Ocean is bigger than LakeMichigan, " returned Bert. "And the ocean has salt water in it, too, and Lake Michigan is fresh!"

"That makes it better!" declared Nan, who decided then and there to"stick up" for Chicago. "If you're thirsty you can't drink the saltyocean water, but you could drink the lake water. "

"Well, maybe that's better, " admitted Bert. "I didn't think of that. "

And when he and the other children had been taken by their father outto the city lake front, and had seen the bathing beach, Bert had toadmit that, after all, Chicago was just as good as New York. But hewould not say it was better. 

As for Flossie and Freddie, any place was nice to them if they hadBert and Nan and daddy and mother along. The smaller twins seemed tohave fun over everything; even riding up and down in the hotelelevator amused them. 

After a day of sight-seeing about Chicago, Mrs. Bobbsey was rathertired, and she thought the children were, too, for she told them theyhad better go to bed early, as they would still have another day to-morrow to see things. 

"Oh, I don't want to go to bed!" exclaimed Bert. "There's a nicemoving picture in the theater near this hotel! It's all about Indiansand cowboys, and daddy said he'd take us after supper. Anyhow, he saidhe'd take Nan and me. "

"If he said so I suppose he will, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But I can't letFlossie and Freddie go, and I am too tired to go myself. "

"Oh, I want to see the Indians!" cried Freddie when he heard what wasbeing talked about. 

"No, dear. You and Flossie stay here with me in the hotel, and I'llread you a story, " promised his mother. She knew by his tired littlelegs and his sleepy eyes that she would not have to read more than onestory before he and Flossie would be fast asleep. 

And so it proved. Mr. Bobbsey took Nan and Bert to the moving picturetheater a few doors from the hotel, promising to bring them backearly, so they would not lose too much sleep. Then Mrs. Bobbsey satdown to read to Flossie and Freddie. 

Just as she had expected, before she reached the end of the story twolittle heads were nodding and four sleepy eyes could hardly keep open. 

"Bed is the place for my tots!" said Mrs. Bobbsey softly, and soonFlossie and Freddie were slumbering together. 

Mr. Bobbsey came in with Nan and Bert about an hour later, thepictures having been enjoyed very much. 

"I surely am going to be a cowboy!" declared Bert. "I can easily beone on the ranch you are going to own, can't I, Mother?"

"We'll see, " replied Mrs. Bobbsey, with a quiet smile at her husband. 

Then Nan and Bert went to bed and were soon asleep. 

"Well, I hope Freddie doesn't fall out of bed again to-night, and wakeme up, " said the children's mother. 

"So do I, " echoed her husband. "I think we shall all rest well to-night. "

But trying to sleep in a big city hotel is quite different from tryingto sleep in one's own, quiet home. There seemed to be even more noisesthan on the railroad train, where the motion of the cars, and theclickety-click of the wheels, appears to sing a sort of slumber song. So it was that in the Chicago hotel Mrs. Bobbsey did not get to sleepas soon as she wished. 

However, after a while, she did close her eyes, and then she knewnothing of what happened until she heard a loud whistle, somethinglike that of a steam locomotive outside. She also heard some shouting, and then she felt some one shaking her and a voice saying:

"Mother! Mother! Come and see 'em!"

Quickly Mrs. Bobbsey opened her eyes, and, in the dim light that camefrom the hall, she saw Freddie standing beside her bed. 

"What is it?" she asked, sitting up and taking her little boy by thearm. 

"They're here! Come and see 'em!" exclaimed Freddie again. "I heard'em, and I saw 'em! There's a whole lot of 'em!"

"What in the world is the child talking about?" said Mrs. Bobbsey, andthen her husband awakened. 

"What's the matter now?" he asked sleepily. "Oh, is that you, Freddie?" he went on, as he saw the little Bobbsey twin. "What's thematter? Did you fall out of bed again?"

"No Daddy. But there's a whole lot of fire engines down in the street. I saw 'em!"

"Fire engines!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, Dick! do you suppose--"

What Mrs. Bobbsey feared was that the hotel was on fire, but she didnot want to say this in Freddie's hearing. 

"There's a great big engine, and it's puffing and blowing out sparks, "said the little fellow. 

"Freddie ought to know a fire engine by this time when he sees one, "Mr. Bobbsey said. "I'll get up and have a look. There may be a smallfire next door. Don't get frightened. "

Mrs. Bobbsey got up too and slipped on a bath robe then, takingFreddie by the hand, she went with him to the window in his room wherehe had said he had looked out and had seen the fire engine. 

But as Mr. Bobbsey took a look he laughed and said:

"This is the time you were fooled, little fireman! That isn't a fireengine at all. That's some sort of engine they use for fixing thestreets. They have to work on the streets here after dark, as thereare too many automobiles and wagons on them in the day time. Thereisn't any fire, Freddie!"

"Maybe there'll be a fire to-morrow, " returned Freddie, ratherhopefully, though of course he did not really want any one's house tobe burned. 

"Well, there isn't a fire to-night--at least not around here, " saidMr. Bobbsey. "Now we can go back to bed. "

Bert nor Nan nor Flossie had been awakened by the noise which rousedFreddie. And really it had sounded like a fire engine. A gang of menwith a big steam roller was at work in the street just below thelittle Bobbsey twins' window. And smoke and sparks were spouting fromthe boiler of the steam roller just as they often spouted from a fireengine. 

Freddie slept soundly after that little excitement, and the Bobbseyfamily did not get up very early the next morning, as they were alltired from their travel. 

"Do we go on to Lumberville to-day, Daddy?" asked Bert after breakfastin the hotel. 

"Yes, we start this evening and travel all night again, " his fatheranswered. "In the morning, or rather, about noon to-morrow, we oughtto be at the lumber tract. "

"And shall I see 'em cut down trees?" asked Freddie. 

"They don't do much cutting down of trees in the summer, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "Winter is the time for that. Still there may be some cuttinggoing on, and I hope you can see it. "

"I'd rather see cowboys, " put in Bert. "That was a dandy picture ofcowboys lassoing wild steers last night. "

"I wish I could go and see that!" exclaimed Freddie. 

"Some other time, maybe, " his mother promised. "I am going to take youall shopping now, and buy you each something. "

Nan's eyes shone in delight at this, for she liked, very much, to goshopping with her mother. 

Mr. Bobbsey still had some business to look after, and when he hadleft the hotel, promising to come back at lunch time, Mrs. Bobbseygathered her four "chickens" as she sometimes called them, about her, and made ready to go shopping. No, I am wrong. She only gathered three"chickens. " Freddie was missing. 

"Where can he be?" asked his mother. "He was right by that window amoment ago!"

"Oh, I hope he hasn't fallen out!" shrieked Nan. 

CHAPTER XII

NEARING LUMBERVILLE

Bert Bobbsey was the first to spring to the window and look down whenhis sister said this. As the rooms Mr. Bobbsey had taken were on thetenth floor it would have been quite a fall for Freddie if he hadtumbled out. But after one look Bert said:

"Freddie couldn't have fallen from here. There's an iron railing allaround the outside of the window, and even Freddie couldn't getthrough. "

"I wonder where he is!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm sure I saw himhere a moment ago!"

"Yes, he was here, " said Nan. "I washed a speck of dirt off his chin, and then Flossie wanted me to wash her hands. "

"But I washed my own hands, I did!" exclaimed Flossie, looking at herpink palms. 

"And the soap slid all over the floor and every time I picked it up itslid some more; didn't it, Nan?" she asked with a laugh. 

"Yes, " answered the older girl. "But where can Freddie be?"

"That's what I'm wondering, " added Mrs. Bobbsey. "We must find him. "

"I guess he went out into the hall, " said Bert. "There's a boy in therooms next door about as old as Freddie, and I saw them talkingtogether yesterday. "

Mrs. Bobbsey hurried into the hall outside their apartment in thehotel. Bert, Nan and Flossie followed, Flossie still laughing at thefunny way the cake of soap had slid around the bathroom when shewashed her hands. 

Mrs. Bobbsey looked up and down the corridor, but she saw nothing ofher little boy. She was hurrying toward the elevators, where the redlight burned at night, when she met one of the chambermaids who lookedafter the rooms and made up the beds. 

"Are you looking for your little boy?" asked the maid, smilingpleasantly at Mrs. Bobbsey and the children. 

"Yes, I am, " answered Freddie's mother. "Have you seen him?"

"Yes, " was the answer. "You needn't look for him, I gave him themoney. "

"You gave him the money! What money?" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Ididn't send him for any money. "

"Why, I saw him come out of your room and start for the elevator, " themaid went on. "I was working across the hall. I heard your little boysaying that he couldn't get in without money and then he looked at me. He asked me if I had eleven cents and I gave it to him. "

"You gave my little boy Freddie eleven cents?" asked Mrs. Bobbseywondering if it were all a joke. "Why did you do that?"

"Because he said he wanted it to get into the moving picture placejust down the street, " the chambermaid said. "I thought you had lethim go, and that he had forgotten the money. It's ten cents forchildren to get in afternoons, you know, and a penny for war tax. Igave it to him. "

"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "The idea of his doing that! Whichmoving picture place was it?"

"I know!" broke in Bert. "It must be the one we were in yesterdaywhere they had the cowboy and Indian scenes. Freddie has gone thereagain. "

"He did want to see an Indian, " added Nan. 

"But would they let such a little boy in all alone?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"Oh, lots of the children get grown-ups to take them in, " thechambermaid explained. "I've often seen 'em do it. "

"But I don't want Freddie going by himself or with people he doesn'tknow!" said the little boy's mother. "But it was kind of you to givehim the money, and here is your change back, " she said to the hotelmaid. "But now we must get Freddie. "

"I'll get him, " offered Bert. "I know just where the place is. "

"I wish you would, " returned Mrs. Bobbsey. "Bring him right back here. I shall have to scold him a little. "

Bert went down in the elevator. The man running the big wire cage, which lifted people up and down instead of having them go by thestairs, nodded and smiled at Bert. 

"I took yo' little brother down awhile ago, " said the elevator man, who was colored like Sam Johnson. 

"Yes, he ran away, " replied Bert. 

"Guess you'll find him at de movies!" laughed the elevator man. "Hehad 'leven cents, an' he was talkin' 'bout Indians an' cowboys. "

"Yes, he's crazy about 'em, " answered Bert. "We're going out West youknow. "

"Is you?" asked the man, as the elevator went down. "Well, de West ama mighty big place. I suah hopes yo' l'il brother doan git lost in debig West. "

"We'll have to keep watch over him, " returned Bert, as he got out ofthe car and hurried down the street toward the moving picture theater. On the way he was wondering as to the best way of getting Freddie outof the show. It would be dark inside, Bert knew, though the picture onthe screen made it light at times. But it would be too dark to pickFreddie out of the crowd, especially as the theater was a large placeand Bert did not know where his small brother would be sitting. 

"I guess I'll have to speak to the girl that sells tickets, and maybeshe can tell me how to find Freddie, " thought Bert. 

But when he reached the moving picture theater he had no trouble atall. For Freddie was there, and he was outside, and not inside at all. And the reason Freddie had not gone in was for the same reason that anumber of other boys and girls were standing outside the theater. 

In the lobby, or the open place near the ticket window, stood a tallman, wearing a red shirt, a big hat with a leather band on it, and, around his neck, a large purple handkerchief. The man wore big boots, and his trousers, instead of being of cloth as were those of Bert'sfather, were made of sheepskin. 

"Oh, he's a cowboy!" exclaimed Bert. And so the man was. At least hewas dressed as some cowboys dress, especially in moving pictures, andthis man was standing in front of the theater to advertise thephotoplay and draw a crowd. 

The crowd was there, and Freddie was right up in front, looking withopen eyes and open mouth at the cowboy, who was walking back andforth, letting himself be looked at. 

"Freddie! Freddie!" called Bert, when he had worked his way close tohis little brother. "What you doing here?"

"I'm going to the show!" declared Freddie. "I want to see the wildcows again. And look, Bert! Here's a cowboy like those we're going tosee a lot of when we get out West!"

Freddie spoke so loudly that many in the crowd laughed, as did thecowboy himself. Then as the big man in the red shirt and sheepskintrousers happened to remember that he was there to advertise the showhe began saying:

"Step right inside, ladies and gentlemen, and boys and girls. See thebig cattle round-up and the Indian raid! Step in and see the cowboystaming the wild horses!"

"Come on in!" called Freddie to Bert. "I want to see it! I want to seethe show! I've 'leven cents! The lady in the hotel gave it to me!"

"No, you can't go in now!" said Bert firmly, as he kept hold of hislittle brother's hand. "Mother want you. She didn't like it becauseyou ran away. We thought maybe you fell out the window. "

"But I didn't!" cried Freddie. "I came down in the levelator, and Iwant to see the show. "

"Not now, " said Bert kindly, as he led Freddie out of the crowd. "Mother is going to take us all down town to buy things. "

"But I want to see the show!" insisted Freddie, and he was going tocry, Bert feared, when there appeared, out in front of the hotel, anItalian with a hurdy-gurdy. 

Freddie was always ready to look at something like this, and soon hewas in the crowd listening to the man grind out the tunes. 

"I'm going to give him this penny, " said Freddie, showing the coinsthe chambermaid had given him. "I'll keep the ten cents, and maybe Ican get another penny to go to the movies. But I'll give the man thisone. "

"All right, " agreed Bert, glad enough to get Freddie away from thecowboy. And then Freddie seemed to forget all about wanting to go tothe movies in listening to the music. 

By this time Mrs. Bobbsey, Nan and Flossie had come down from theirrooms. They saw Bert and Freddie in the crowd around the hurdy-gurdyman. 

"Oh, I'm glad you have found him!" exclaimed Freddie's mother, as shesaw her little son. "You did very wrong to run away, " she added. 

Freddie looked sorry, for he knew he was being scolded. 

"I--I didn't go into the movies, " he said, "and I have ten cents left. I gave a penny to the man, " and he showed his mother the ten-centpiece in his chubby fist. 

"You must never do such a thing again, Freddie, " went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "Now I'm going to take that ten cents away from you, and when you wantto go to the movies you must ask me. "

"Will you take me to see the cowboy after we go shopping?" the littlefellow wanted to know. 

"I don't believe we'll have time, " Mrs. Bobbsey answered, trying notto smile. "We must get ready to leave for Lumberville then. "

"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Freddie. "I want to see the big trees. Maybe I'll climb one. "

"And that's something else you must not do!" went on his mother. "Youmust not go out in the woods nor climb trees alone. "

"I won't. Bert will come with me, " said Freddie. 

Then the Bobbsey twins went shopping with their mother, and that nightthey again got aboard a sleeping car and started for Lumberville, which was reached the next morning. 

And when Flossie and Freddie and Bert and Nan opened their eyes andlooked from the car window they saw a strange sight. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE SAWMILL

When Bert, who was the first of the Bobbsey twins to awaken, lookedfrom the car window he had hard work to tell whether or not he wasdreaming. For he seemed to be traveling through a scene from a movingpicture. There were trees, trees, trees on both sides of the track. Nothing could be seen but trees. The railroad was cut through a denseforest, and at times the trees seemed so near that it appeared allBert would have to do would be to stretch out his hand to touch thebranches. 

Then Nan awakened, and she, too, saw the great numbers of trees onboth sides of the train. Quickly she and Bert dressed, and, finding aplace where a sleeping berth had been folded up and the seats madeready for use again, the two children took their places there andlooked out. 

"What makes so many trees?" asked Nan. "Is this a camping place?"

"It would be a dandy place for us Boy Scouts to camp, " said Bert. "ButI guess this must be where they get lumber from, isn't it, Daddy?" heasked, as his father came through the car just then, having been tothe wash-room to shave. 

"Yes, this is the place of big trees and lumber, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "We are coming to Lumberville soon, and half our journey will beover. "

"Is this the West?" asked Nan. 

"Yes, this is the West, " her father told her, "though it is not as farWest as we are going. The cattle ranch is still farther on. It willtake us some time to get there, but we are going to stay inLumberville nearly a week. "

By this time Flossie and Freddie had awakened and their mother hadhelped them to dress. The two smaller Bobbsey twins came to sit withNan and Bert and look out of the windows. 

"My, what a lot of trees!" exclaimed Freddie. 

"You couldn't climb all them, could you?" asked Flossie. 

"Not all at once, but I could climb one at a time, " Freddie answered, as the train puffed on through the forest. "Can't we stop in thewoods?" he wanted to know. "These are terrible big woods. "

"Yes, this is a large forest, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "It is one of thelargest in the United States, and some of my lumber and boards comefrom here. But we can't stop here. If we did we would have no nice hotbreakfast. "

"Oh, then I don't want to stop!" exclaimed Freddie. "I'm hungry. "

"We'll soon have breakfast, " said his mother. "It is wonderful amongthe trees, " she said. "And to think that I will really own a tract ofwoodland like this!"

"Yes, " replied Mr. Bobbsey. "Your lumber tract will be much like this, except there will be places where trees have been cut down to be madeinto boards and planks. I suppose there are such places in thesewoods, but we cannot see them from the train. "

Once, just before they went into the dining car to breakfast, theBobbsey twins saw in a clearing a big wagon loaded with logs and drawnby eight horses. 

"Oh, look!" cried Bert, pointing to it. "Will you have teams likethat, Mother?"

"Well, I suppose so, " she answered. "I don't really know what is on mylumber tract, as yet. "

"We'll soon see, " said Mr. Bobbsey, looking at his watch. "We'll be atLumberville in about two hours. "

They went to breakfast while the train was still puffing along throughthe woods. The scenery was quite different from that on the first partof their journey, where they had scarcely ever been out of sight ofhouses and cities, with only now and then a patch of wooded land. Herethere were hardly any houses to be seen--only trees, trees, and moretrees. 

Freddie was not the only one of the Bobbsey twins who was hungry, forFlossie, Nan, and Bert also had good appetites. But, to tell you thetruth, the children were more interested in looking out of the windowthan in eating, though they did not miss much that was on the table. 

Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey were glad they had brought the twins along, forthey felt the trip would do them good and let the children see thingsthey never would have seen but for the travel. 

After they had gone back into the sleeping car, where the berths hadall been folded up against the roof by this time, Mr. Bobbsey saidthey had better begin getting their baggage ready. 

"The train does not stop long at Lumberville, and we must hurry out, "he said. "Lumberville isn't a big, city station, like the one inChicago. "

"Are there any moving pictures there?" Freddie wanted to know. 

"No, not a one, " his mother answered. "But there will be plenty ofother things for you to see. "

Soon after the satchels, baskets, and bundles belonging to the Bobbseytwins had been gathered together by the car porter and put at the end, near the door, the train began to run more slowly. 

"Is this Lumberville?" asked Bert, who had noticed that the trees werenot quite so thick now. 

"Lumberville--Lumber-ville!" called the porter, smiling back at theBobbsey twins as he stood near their pile of baggage. "All out forLumberville. "

"That's us!" cried Bert, with a laugh. 

Slowly the train came to a stop. Bert and Nan, standing near thewindow from which they had been looking all the morning, saw a small, rough building flash into view. Near it were flatcars piled high withlumber and logs. But there was no sign of a city or a town. 

"Come on!" called Daddy Bobbsey to his family. 

The porter carried out their baggage, and the children jumped down thecar steps. They found themselves on the platform of a small station--astation that looked more like a shanty in the woods than a place forrailroad trains to stop. 

"Good-bye! An' good luck to yo' all!" called the smiling porter, as heclimbed up the car steps, carrying the rubber-covered stool he had putdown for the passengers to alight on. 

Then the train puffed away and the Bobbsey twins, with their fatherand mother, and with their baggage around them, stood on the platformof the station which, as Bert could see, was marked "Lumberville. "

"But where's the place? Where's the town? Where's the men cutting downtrees and all that?" Bert asked. He was beginning to feeldisappointed. 

"Oh, this is only where the trains stop, " his father said. "Lumberville isn't a city, or even a town. It's just a settlement forthe lumber-men. Our timber tract is about seven miles from here. "

"Have we got to walk?" asked Nan, as she looked down at her dainty, new shoes which her mother had bought in Chicago. 

"No, we don't have to walk. I think this is our automobile comingnow, " replied Mr. Bobbsey, and he smiled at his wife. 

Bert and Nan heard a rumbling sound back of the rough, wooden railroadstation. Flossie and Freddie were too busy watching and listening tosome blue jays in a tree overhead to pay attention to much else. Butas the rumbling sound grew louder Bert saw a big wagon approaching, drawn by two powerful horses. 

"Where's the automobile?" asked the boy, with a look at his father. 

"I was just joking, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "The roads here are too roughfor autos. Lumber wagons are about all that can get through. "

"Are we going in that wagon?" Nan demanded. 

Before her father could answer the man driving the big horses calledto them to stop, and when they did he spoke to Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Are you the folks I'm expected to take out to the Watson timbertract?" the driver asked, "Well, we are the Bobbseys, " said Bert's father. 

"Then you're the folks I want!" was the good-natured answer. "Justpile in and make yourselves comfortable. I'll get your baggage in. "

"I'd better help you, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "There's quite a lot of it. "

"Oh, we're going to have a ride!" cried Freddie as he ran over to thelumber wagon, followed by Flossie, "This is better than anautomobile. "

"Well, it's more sure, over the roads we've got to travel, " said thedriver, who was carrying two valises while Mr. Bobbsey took two moreto put in the wagon. 

"Pile in!" invited the driver again, and when the Bobbsey twinsreached the wagon they found it was half-filled with pine treebranches, over which horse blankets had been spread. 

"Why, it's as soft as a sleeping car!" exclaimed Nan. "Oh, how nicethis is!" and she sank down with a sigh of contentment. 

Bert helped Flossie and Freddie in, and Mr. Bobbsey helped in hiswife. 

"Got everything?" asked the driver, as he climbed up on his seat, which was made of two boards with springs between them. 

"Yes, we're all ready, " Mr. Bobbsey answered. 

"Gid-dap!" called the man to his big, strong horses, and they startedoff. 

The Bobbsey twins soon knew why it was that no automobile could havetraveled over the roads through the woods to the lumber camp. Therewere so many holes that the wagon lurched about as the boat had whenthe Bobbseys were on the deep blue sea. 

But rough as was the road, and tossed about as they were in the wagon, the Bobbsey twins were not hurt a bit, as the blankets spread over thespicy-smelling pine branches made a couch almost as soft as a featherbed for them. 

Through the same sort of forest they had seen from the car windows thechildren rode. The day was a sunny, pleasant one, and it was just warmenough to be comfortable. 

"Are we going to stop at a hotel?" asked Nan, when they had ridden forwhat seemed to her a long time. 

"No, " her father answered. "They don't have hotels off here in thewoods. We are going to stay in the lumber camp. "

"And camp out?" asked Bert. 

"Yes, it will be like camping out. "

"Oh, that's dandy!" exclaimed the boy. 

And as he said that there sounded, as if from the woods just ahead ofthem, a loud shrieking sound. Flossie at once turned to her mother, and clasped Mrs. Bobbsey by the arm. Freddie turned to his father, andlooked up at him. 

"What was that?" asked Nan. 

"Sounded like a wild animal, " replied Bert, in a hushed voice. 

"That's the sawmill!" said the driver of the lumber wagon, with alaugh. "We're coming to your place, " he added. "That's the sawmill youheard. The saw must have struck a hard knot in a log and it let out ascreech. There's the sawmill!"

CHAPTER XIV

THE BIG TREE

The Bobbsey twins saw, just ahead of them, a stream of water sparklingin the sun. They also saw a place that had been cleared of trees, which had been cut down, making a vacant place in the woods. And inthis clearing, or vacant place, near the small river, were a number ofrough-looking buildings. It was from one of these "shacks, " as Bertafterward called them, that the screeching sound came. And puffs ofsteam coming from a pipe sticking out of the roof of this shack showedthat there was an engine there. 

"Is this the lumber camp that I am to own?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as shelooked ahead and saw the buildings, the piles of logs, and the stacksof boards. 

"This is the place, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "It is bigger than I thought. We will have to get some one to look after it for you, Mother. You andI can't be running out here to see that the men cut down the treesright, and make them into boards. Yes, we shall have to get some oneto help us. "

"Couldn't I help?" asked Bert. "Maybe I'd rather be a lumberman than acowboy. "

"You'll have to grow some before you'll be of much use around a lumbercamp, " said the driver of the wagon. "It's hard work chopping downtrees. "

"Do you ever have a fire here?" Freddie demanded suddenly. 

"Sometimes, my little man, " the driver answered. "Why? Do you like tosee fires? I don't, myself, for they burn up a lot of good lumber. "

"I don't like to see fires, but I like fire engines, " said Freddie. "And I have a fire engine at home, and it squirts real water. But Icouldn't bring it with me 'cause it was too heavy to carry. But ifthere was a fire here maybe I could watch the engines--I mean the bigones. "

"We don't have fire engines in lumber camps, " said the driver, whosename was Harvey Hallock. "When it starts to burn we just have to lether burn. But I guess--"

However, no one heard what he said, for at that moment the saw musthave come to another hard knot in a log, for there was that same loudscreeching sound like a wild animal yelling. 

Nan covered her ears with her hands, but Bert and Freddie and Flossieseemed to like the noise. 

"Mercy me!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, "I hope that doesn't happen veryoften. "

"Well, I might as well tell you it does, " said Mr. Hallock. "We keepthe sawmill going all day, but of course we shut down at night. Itwon't keep you awake, anyhow. "

"That's good, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "I don't believe I'dwant to own a lumber saw if it kept me awake with a noise like that. "

Certainly this sawmill in the midst of the big lumber tract was verydifferent from the small one in Mr. Bobbsey's place at Lakeport. Thechildren often watched the men sawing up boards at the yard theirfather owned, but the work there was nothing like this. 

The saw cut through the hard knot and the screeching sound came to anend, at least for a time. 

"This is where you folks are going to stay, " said Mr. Hallock, as hestopped his team in front of a building, at the sight of which Bertand Nan gave shouts of joy. 

"It's a regular log cabin! Oh, it's a regular log cabin!" cried Bert, as he saw where they were to live during their stay in the lumbercamp. 

"So this is to be our cabin, is it?" said Mr. Bobbsey as he got downand helped his wife, while the driver lifted out the children and thenthe baggage. 

"Yes, the boys fixed this up for you, " answered Mr. Hallock. "We hopeyou'll like it. "

"I'm sure I shall, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she looked inside the logcabin, for it really was that, the sides being made of logs piled oneon the other, the ends being notched so they would not slip out. 

"Isn't it cute!" exclaimed Nan, as she followed her mother inside thecabin. "It has tables and chairs and a cupboard and everything!"

"And it's all made of wood!" cried Bert. "Say, the Boy Scouts wouldlike this all right. "

"I believe they would, " agreed his father. "As for everything beingmade of wood, it generally is in a lumber camp. Now we must getsettled. Where can I find the foreman?" he asked of the driver of thewagon who had brought the Bobbseys over from the railroad station. 

"He's outside somewhere in the woods, " was the answer. "I'll find himand tell him you're here. I'll send the cook over to see if he can getyou anything to eat. Are you hungry?" he asked the children. 

"I am!" admitted Bert. 

"And so am I!"

"And I!" echoed Flossie and Freddie. 

"Well, that's the way to be!" said Mr. Hallock. "Children wouldn't bechildren unless they were hungry. We've got plenty to eat here, suchas it is. Not much pie and cake, perhaps, but other things. "

"We don't want pie and cake when we're camping in the woods, " declaredBert. "We didn't have it at Blueberry Island--that is, not every day. "

"All right! I guess you'll get along!" laughed the driver, as he wentoff through the trees to find the cook and some of the men of thelumber camp. 

Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey were looking about the log cabin that was to betheir home for about a week, and the children were playing aboutoutside, watching some squirrels and chipmunks that were friskingabout in the trees, when a voice called:

"Well, I see you got here all right!"

Mr. Bobbsey and his wife, who were putting some of their baggage inone of the inner rooms, came to the outside door. They saw a bigbearded man, wearing heavy boots, with his trousers tucked in the topsof them, smiling at them. 

"Are you the foreman?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"No, I'm Tom Jackson, his helper, " was the answer. "Mr. Dayton will beover in a few minutes. He's seeing about some big trees that are beingcut down. "

"I don't want to take him away from his work, " said Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Oh, he's coming over, anyhow, to see how you stood the trip out tothis rough place, " said Mr. Jackson. "Of course it isn't as rough asit is in the winter time, when we do most of our tree-cutting, butit's rough enough, even now. "

"We are used to roughing it, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. "Welike it, and the children think there is no better fun than campingout. "

"Well, that's what this is--camping out, " said the foreman's helper. "But here comes the cook, and he looks as if he had something for youto eat. "

A little bald-headed man, with a white apron draped in front of him, was coming along a woodland path with some covered dishes on a trayheld on one hand, while in the other he carried what seemed to be acoffee pot. 

"Just brought you folks some sandwiches and a pot of tea, " he said, ashe set the things down on the table in the log cabin. "This is teaeven if it's made in the coffee pot. But I washed it out good first, "he said to Mrs. Bobbsey. "Mostly the lumber men like coffee, though inwinter they're fond of a hot cup of tea. I give 'em both, andgenerally I have a teapot, but I can't find it just this minute. Ibrought some fried cakes for the children, too. "

"I thought he said there wasn't any cake in a lumber camp, " said Bert, looking out toward the driver who was going off with his team. 

"Well, generally I don't get much time to make fried cakes, " said thelittle bald-headed man who acted as cook. "But I made some speciallyfor you youngsters to-day, " and he lifted off the cover of one dishand showed some crisp, brown doughnuts, which he called "fried cakes. "

"Oh, I want some!" cried Freddie. 

"So do I!" echoed Flossie. 

"There's enough for all of you, " remarked the cook. "Now, then, Mrs. Bobbsey, you'll have a cup of tea, I know, " and he poured out a hot, steaming cup that smelled very good. 

Mr. Bobbsey ate some of the sandwiches and had a cup of tea, and, after they had taken the edge off their hunger on the doughnuts, thechildren also ate some of the bread and meat. 

While their father and mother were talking to the assistant foremanand the cook, who said his name was Jed Prenty, the four Bobbsey twinswandered outside the log cabin. It stood on the edge of a clearing inthe forest, and not far away there were other log buildings, most ofthem larger than the one where the Bobbseys were to live. These otherbuildings were where the lumbermen slept and ate, and one was whereJed Prenty did his cooking. In another building, farther off, thehorses were stabled. 

"Let's take a walk in the woods, " said Bert to Nan. "I want to see 'emcut down trees. "

"So do I, " she said. "We can take Flossie and Freddie with us. Wewon't go far. "

"Are there any cowboys here?" Freddie wanted to know. 

"Not any, I guess, " laughed Bert. "We'll find them when we get toCowdon, where mother's ranch is. "

Before they knew it the Bobbsey twins had walked quite a little wayalong a path into the woods. They heard the sound of axes being usedto chop down trees, and they were eager to see the lumbermen at work. 

"Oh, look at this big tree!" called Freddie to Bert. "Some one cut italmost down!" He and Flossie had, for the moment, wandered away fromBert and Nan, though they were still within sight. At Freddie's callBert looked up and toward his small brother. 

Bert saw the two small Bobbsey twins standing beside a big tree which, as Freddie had said, was partly cut down. Just then came a puff ofwind. The big tree slowly swayed and began to fall over. And Flossieand Freddie were standing near it, right where it would crash down onthem!

CHAPTER XV

BILL DAYTON

"Look out there! Look out!"

Bert and Nan Bobbsey, standing near a big stump, heard some one shoutthis to Flossie and Freddie as the two small Bobbsey twins looked upat the great tree which was slowly falling toward them. And then Bertand Nan added their voices to the shout which came from they knew notwhom. 

"Oh, Flossie! Run! Run!" cried Nan. 

"Come here, Freddie! Come here!" yelled Bert. 

The two small children did not really know they were in danger. Therewas so much to see in the woods, and they were so interested inwatching the big tree fall, that they did not know it might fall righton them and crush them. 

"Oh, what shall we do? What shall we do?" sobbed Nan, for she wascrying now, for fear her little brother and sister would be hurt. 

"I'll get 'em!" exclaimed Bert. 

He started to run toward Flossie and Freddie, but he never could havereached them in time to snatch them out of the way of the fallingtree. 

However, there was some one else in the forest who knew just what todo and when to do it. There was another cry from some unseen man. 

"Stand still! Don't move!" he shouted. 

Then there was a crackling in the underbrush, and some one rushed outat Flossie and Freddie, who were standing under the tree looking up atthe tottering trunk which was slowly falling toward them. 

If the two little children had been alone in the woods they might havethought that the crackling and crashing in the underbrush was made bya bear breaking his way toward them. But they were not thinking ofbears, just then. 

In another instant Bert and Nan saw a man, dressed as were nearly allthe "lumberjacks, " spring down a little hill and rush at Flossie andFreddie. As for the two small Bobbsey twins themselves, they had notime to see anything very clearly. The first they knew they werecaught up in the man's arms, Freddie on one side and Flossie on theother. That big, strong lumberman just tucked Freddie under his leftarm and Flossie under his right and then he gave a jump and a leapthat carried them all out of danger. 

And only just in time, too! For no sooner had the lumberman picked upthe two children and leaped off the path with them into a littlecleared space than down crashed the big tree!

It made a sound like the boom of a big gun, or like the pounding ofthe giant waves in a storm at the seashore, where once the Bobbseytwins had spent a vacation. 

Down crashed the big tree, breaking off smaller trees and bushes thatwere in its way. Down it fell, raising a big cloud of dust, andFlossie and Freddie, still held in the arms of the big man, saw itfall. But they were far enough away to escape getting hurt, thoughsome pieces of bark and a shower of leaves scattered over them. Thelumbermen had snatched them out of danger just in time. 

"Oh! Oh! They're all right! They're saved!" gasped Nan, no longercrying now that she saw Flossie and Freddie were not hurt. 

"Whew! That was pretty near a bad accident, " said Bert, who hadstopped running toward his brother and sister when he saw that thelumberman was going to get them. 

As for the two little children themselves, they were so surprised atfirst that they did not know what to think. One moment they had beenlooking up at a big tree, wondering why it was toppling over towardthem as they had sometimes seen their tall towers of building blocksfall. The next instant they had heard somebody rushing toward them outof the woods, they had felt themselves caught up in strong arms, andnow they were being set down at a safe distance away from the fallentree by a big man. 

Flossie and Freddie looked at the big trunk which had crashed down. Then they saw Bert and Nan coming toward them. Next they looked up atthe big lumberman. 

"Who are you?" asked Freddie. 

"That's just what I was going to ask you, " replied the big man, with alaugh. "I think I can guess, though. You are the Bobbsey twins, aren'tyou? That is you're half of them, and the other half is over there, "and he pointed to Bert and Nan who were walking toward Flossie andFreddie. 

"Yes, we're the Bobbsey twins, " answered Freddie. "We've come to thelumber camp. My mother--she owns it. "

"So I've heard, " the man said. "Well, if I were you I wouldn't go offby myself among the trees again. You never can tell when one is goingto fall down. The man who cut this one should have stayed and finishedit, and not have left it to fall with the first puff of wind. I mustspeak to him about it. And now I had better take you to your fatherand mother. Where are they?"

"We'll take them back, thank you, " said Nan, who, with Bert, came upjust then. 

"Yes, we want to thank you a lot for getting them out of the way ofthe falling tree, " went on Bert. 

"It was the only way to save them, " replied the lumberman. "I couldn'tmake them understand they must step back out of danger, so I had torush to them and grab them. I'm afraid I did it pretty roughly, but Ididn't mean to. "

"You pinched me a little, " said Flossie, speaking for the first time. "But I don't care. I wouldn't want that tree to hit me. "

"I should say not!" exclaimed the lumberman. "We don't want theBobbsey twins to get hurt. "

"How'd you know our names are Bobbsey?" asked Freddie. "Are you apoliceman? If you are, where's your brass buttons?"

"No, I'm not a policeman, " answered the lumberman. "I suppose, in thecity where you came from, all the policemen know you. But I guessedwho you were because I sent a man to the depot to-day to meet theBobbsey family, and you must belong to it. "

"We do, " explained Bert. "Our father and mother are back in the camp--at the log cabin, you know. "

"Yes, I know where it is very well, " said the man, with a smile. "And, just to make sure you children won't go near any other trees that areready to fall, I'll go back with you. I want to see Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey, anyhow. "

"Do you work here?" asked Bert. 

"Yes, I think you could call it that, " answered the man, with a smile. 

He took Flossie and Freddie by the hands, and they walked along withhim, while Bert and Nan followed. On the way back to the camp, orplace where the log cabins and other shacks were built, they met a mancoming along with an axe on his shoulder. 

"That big tree fell down, " said the man who had saved the Bobbseytwins. "After this don't go away and leave a trunk nearly choppedthrough. These children might have been hurt. "

"I'm sorry, " said the man with the axe. "I won't do it again. But, just as I was going to finish chopping it down, one of the boys neededhelp with his team, and I ran to him. I forgot all about the bigtree. "

"Well, don't forget again, " said the man who had saved Flossie andFreddie. 

As the Bobbseys walked along with their new friend they saw theirfather and mother coming toward them. 

"Bert, Nan, where have you been?" asked their mother. 

"Off in the woods, " Bert answered. 

"And we saw a big tree fall down and it 'most falled on us!" addedFlossie. 

"But he pulled us out from under it! Didn't you?" went on Freddie, andhe looked up at the big man in the big boots, who wore a red shirtlike the other lumbermen. 

"What's that?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Were you children near a fallingtree?"

"That's what they were--too near for comfort, " said the man as he letgo of the hands of Flossie and Freddie, so the small Bobbsey twinsmight run to their mother. "It was careless of one of the men to leavea tree half chopped through. But no harm is done. I managed to get thekiddies out of the way in time. "

Mr. Bobbsey must have guessed how it happened, for he shook handsheartily with the lumberman. 

"I can't thank you enough, " said the children's father. "You savedFlossie and Freddie from being hurt, if not killed! Do you work here?"

"I'm the foreman, " answered the man quietly. 

"Oh, we have been looking for you, " said Bert's mother. "I am Mrs. Bobbsey. "

"That's what I guessed, lady, " answered the man. "I am glad to meetyou. I've been expecting you. "

"So you are the foreman, " said Mr. Bobbsey slowly. "May I ask yourname?"

The man seemed to wait a few seconds before answering. Then he lookedaway over the tops of the trees and said:

"Bill Dayton. "

And his voice sounded rather strange, Mrs. Bobbsey thought. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE TRAIN CRASH

"Well, Mr. Dayton, " said Mr. Bobbsey, after a moment's pause, "as Isaid before, I do not know how to thank you for what you did to saveFlossie and Freddie. I hope, some day, I may be able to do you asgreat a service as you did me. "

And the time was nearer than Mr. Bobbsey supposed when he could do akindness to the lumber foreman. 

They all walked back to the log cabin near the other buildings, all ofwhich made what was called the "lumber camp. " The story was told ofthe falling tree, and how nearly Flossie and Freddie had been caughtunder it. 

"That foreman of ours sure is quick on his feet!" said Harvey Hallock, the driver who had brought the Bobbseys from the station. Mr. Hallockwas speaking to Mr. Bobbsey, outside the log cabin. "Yes, Bill Daytonis sure a quick man, " went on the driver. 

"Has he been foreman here long?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"No, not very long, " was the answer. "He came here when your wife'suncle owned the tract, just before the uncle died. But we don't knowmuch about Bill Dayton. He's a quiet man, and he doesn't talk much. "

"I thought there was something queer about him, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "But I shall always be his friend, for he saved my two children. "

The Bobbsey twins thought they never had eaten such a jolly meal asthe one served a little later in the log cabin. Even though it was inthe midst of a great forest and in a lumber camp, the food was verygood. The little bald-headed cook seemed to know almost as much as didblack Dinah about making things taste good. 

"The children have good appetites up here, " said Mr. Bobbsey, as hefilled Bert's plate for the second time. 

"I want some, too!" called Freddie. "I'm hungry like a bear!"

"But you mustn't eat like a bear!" said his mother, laughing. "Youmust wait your turn, " and she served Flossie first, for that little"fairy" was as hungry as the others. 

"What funny little beds!" exclaimed Nan, when she saw where they wereto sleep in the log cabin. 

"They're almost like the berths in the sleeping car, " said Bert. 

"They are called 'bunks, '" his father told him. "Lumbermen move aboutso, from camp to camp, that they could not take regular beds withthem. So they build bunks against the wall, spreading their blanketsover pine or, hemlock boughs, as the driver did in the wagon we rodeover in from the station. "

But the bunks in the log cabin had mattresses stuffed with straw, andthough they were not like the beds in the Pullman car, nor like thosein the Bobbsey home, all the children slept well. 

They did not awaken all night, nor did Freddie fall out of bed, assometimes happened. 

"I never slept so well in all my life!" exclaimed Mother Bobbsey, whenshe was getting ready for breakfast the next morning. "The sweet airof the lumber camp seems to agree with all of us. "

Bert and Nan, as well as Flossie and Freddie, also felt fine, and theywere ready for a day of fun. They had it, too, for there were so manythings to do in the big tract of trees their mother now owned that thechildren did not know what to start first. 

Of course Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey had business to look after--thebusiness of taking over the lumber camp, since Mrs. Bobbsey was nowthe owner. But she made no changes. She said she wanted Bill Daytonstill to act as foreman, and she wished to keep the same men he hadhired from the first, as he said they were all good workers. 

But while their father and mother were in the office of the lumbercamp, looking over books and papers, Bert and Nan and Flossie andFreddie roamed about. They did not go alone, as that would not havebeen safe. Harvey Hallock, the good-natured driver of the wagon, wentwith them, and foreman Bill Dayton told him to be especially carefulnot to let Flossie and Freddie stray away. 

"I guess he thinks I'll get lost, " said Freddie, when the little"fireman" heard this order given to the driver. 

"Do you often get lost?" asked Harvey Hallock. 

"Oh, lots of times!" exclaimed Freddie. "I can get lost as easy asanything! But I always get found again!"

"Well, that's good!" laughed the driver. 

He took the children to the sawmill, and, at a safe distance from thebig saw, they watched to see how logs were turned into boards, planks, and beams. 

They saw the rumbling wagons drive up, loaded with logs that werefastened on with chains so they would not roll off. The men, with bighooks fastened on handles of wood; turned the logs over, and slid themthis way and that until they could be shoved up to the saw. 

The logs were put on what was called a "carriage, " to be sawed. Thiscarriage moved slowly along on a little track, and the Bobbsey twinswere allowed to ride on the end of the log farthest from the saw. Whenthe end came too close to the big, whirring teeth that ripped throughthe hard knots with such a screeching sound, Bert and Nan and Flossieand Freddie were lifted off by the driver. 

The children saw the place where the jolly, bald-headed cook made themeals ready for the hungry men. There was a big stove, and on it a potof soup was cooking, and when Jed Prenty opened the oven door a mostdelicious smell came out. 

"What's that?" asked Bert. 

"Baked beans, " the cook answered. "They're 'most done, too! Wantsome?"

"Oh, I do!" cried Freddie. "And I want a fried cake, too!"

"So do I!" echoed Flossie. 

"Well, you shall have some, " answered the good-natured cook. So hegave the children a little lunch on one end of the big, long tablewhere the lumbermen would soon crowd in to dinner. 

The Bobbsey twins had no fear of "spoiling their appetites" by eatingthus before their regular lunch was ready. Walking about in the woodsseemed to make them hungry all the while. 

As the days passed Mrs. Bobbsey found she would have to stay inLumberville longer than she had at first thought. There was muchbusiness to be done in taking over the property her uncle had lefther. 

"The longer we stay the better I like it!" said Nan to Bert. "Thereare so many birds here, and squirrels and chipmunks. And the squirrelsare so tame that they come right up to me. "

"Yes, they are nice, " said Bert. "But I want to get out West on theranch, and see the cowboys and the Indians. "

"I want to be an Indian, too!" exclaimed Freddie, who did not quitecatch what Bert said. 

"What else do you want to be?" laughed the older brother. "Firstyou're going to be a fireman, and now you want to be an Indian!"

"Couldn't I be both?" Freddie wanted to know. 

"Hardly, " said Nan, with a laugh. "You'd better just stay what youare--Freddie Bobbsey!"

Day after day the twins were taken around the woods by the driver orsome of the lumbermen who were not busy. They saw big trees cut down, but were careful not to get in the way of the great, swaying trunks. They played in the piles of sawdust, jumping off powdery wood. 

"This is as nice as Blueberry Island!" cried Nan one day, when theywere all playing on the sawdust heap. 

"Yes, and we're having as much fun as we did in Washington, where wefound Miss Pompret's china, " added Bert. "I wonder if we'll discoverany mystery on this trip. "

"I don't believe so, " returned Nan. 

However, the Bobbsey twins were to help in solving something which youwill read about before this book is finished. 

But all things have an end, even the happy days in the lumber camp, and one morning, after the little bald-headed cook had servedbreakfast in the log cabin, Mr. Bobbsey said to the children:

"Well, we are going to travel on. "

"Where are we going?" asked Bert. 

"To Cowdon; to the cattle ranch, " answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "I havesettled all the business here, and now we must go farther out West. "

"I'll be sorry to see you go, " said the foreman, Bill Dayton, whentold that the Bobbseys were going to leave. "I've enjoyed the childrenvery much. "

"Did you ever have any of your own?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"No--never did, " was the answer. "I'm not much of a family man. Usedto be, when I was a boy and lived at home, " he went on, "But that's agood many years ago. "

"Haven't you any family--any relatives?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, for shethought the foreman spoke as if he were very lonesome. 

"Well, yes, I've got some folks, " answered Bill Dayton slowly. "I'vegot a brother somewhere out West. He's a cowboy, I believe. Haven'tseen him for some years. "

"Are your father and mother dead?" asked Mr. Bobbsey gently. 

"My mother is, " was the answer. "She died when my brother and I wereboys. As for my father--well, I don't talk much about him, " and theforeman turned away as if that ended it. 

"Why doesn't he want to talk about his father?" asked Bert of Mr. Bobbsey a little later, when they were packing the valises. 

"I don't know, " was the answer. "Perhaps he and his father quarreled, or something like that. We had better not ask too many questions. BillDayton is a queer man. "

Bert thought so himself, but he did as his father had suggested, anddid not ask the foreman any more questions. 

The packing was soon finished, and then the Bobbsey twins said good-bye to their friends in the lumber camp. The bald-headed cook gavethem a bag of "fried cakes" to take with them. They were to ride tothe station in the same lumber wagon that had brought them to thecamp, and Harvey Hallock was to drive them. 

"Good-bye!" said Bill Dayton to Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey, after he hadtalked to the Bobbsey twins. "If you stop off here on your way homefrom your ranch, we'll all be glad to see you. "

"Perhaps we may stop off, " Mrs. Bobbsey answered. "Now that I own alumber tract I must look after it, though I am going to leave themanagement of it to you. "

"I'll do my best with it, " promised the foreman. "And if you shouldhappen to meet my brother out among the cowboys tell him I was askingfor him. I don't s'pose you will meet him, but you might. "

And then the Bobbsey twins started off on another part of their tripto the great West. They did not have long to wait for the train in theLumberville station, and, as they got aboard and began their travelsonce more, they could see Harvey Hallock waving to them from hiswagon. 

"And one of the horses shook his head good-bye to me!" exclaimedFlossie, who pressed her chubby nose against the window to catch thelast view of the lumber team. 

"I hope we have as good a time on the cattle ranch as we had in thelumber camp, " said Nan, as she and the other children settled down forthe long ride. 

"We'll have more fun!" declared Bert. "We can ride ponies out on theranch!"

"Oh, may we?" asked Nan with shining eyes, turning to her mother. 

"I guess so, " was the answer. 

"I want a pony, too!" cried Freddie. "If Bert and Nan ride pony-backFlossie and I want to ride, too. "

"We'll ride you in a little cart, " said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "That will be safer--you won't fall so easily. "

They were to ride all that day, all night, and part of the next daybefore they would reach the cattle ranch which Mrs. Bobbsey's unclehad left her. The railroad trip was enjoyed by the Bobbseys, but thechildren were eager to get to the new place they were going to visit. Bert wanted to see the cowboys and the Indians, Nan wanted to ride apony and get an Indian doll, and as for Flossie and Freddie, they justwanted to have a good time in any way possible. 

Supper was served on the train, and then came the making up of theberths in the sleeping car. This was nothing new to the Bobbseys now, and soon they were all in bed. 

It was dark and about the middle of the night when all in the sleepingcar were suddenly awakened by a loud crash. The train stopped with ajerk, there was a shrieking of whistles, and then loud shouts. 

"What is it?" called Mrs. Bobbsey from her berth. 

"Probably there has been a wreck, " said Mr. Bobbsey, as he quickly gotout of his berth and into the aisle. "But no one here seems to behurt, though I think the car is off the track. "

Flossie and Freddie and Bert and Nan stuck their heads out between thecurtains hanging in front of their berths. They wondered what hadhappened. 

CHAPTER XVII

AT THE RANCH

After the first crash in the night, and the rattling and bumping ofthe sleeping car in which they were riding, the Bobbsey twins heardnothing more that was exciting except the whistling of the locomotiveand the shouting of men outside the train. 

But though the sleeping car no longer bumped unevenly over the woodenties of the road bed, and though it had come to a stop, the people init were all very much excited. Men and women quickly dressed, and cameout in the aisle where Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey were now standing. 

"What is it?"

"What's the matter?"

"Are we off the track?"

These and many other questions were being asked by every one itseemed. 

"I was dreamin' that I fell out of bed and I got a big bump!" saidFreddie Bobbsey, and, hearing that, many of the passengers laughed. 

This seemed to make them feel better, and when it was seen that thesleeping car was not broken and that no one in it was hurt, the menand women began to talk about what had best be done. 

"We're off the track, that's sure, " said one man who had a berth nextto Mr. Bobbsey. "You can tell we're off the track by the way this caris tipped to one side. "

"Yes, I believe we are, " said the children's father. "Well, if itisn't anything worse than being off the track we will not worry much. But there was a pretty hard crash, and I'm afraid some of thepassengers in the other cars are hurt. "

"You're right--it was a hard crash, " said a woman to whom Mrs. Bobbseywas speaking. "It awakened me from a sound sleep. If we are off thetrack I wonder how long it will take us to get back on?"

"I have a train of cars, " said Freddie, who, with the other Bobbseychildren, was now partly dressed. "I have a train of cars, and whenthey get off the track Flossie and I put 'em back on. "

"Well, I wish you could do that with this train, my little engineer!"laughed the man who had talked to Freddie's father. 

"I'm not an engineer!" exclaimed the little fellow, smiling. 

"No?" asked the man. 

"Nope! I'm a fireman, and my sister's a fairy!" went on Freddie, pointing to Flossie so every one would know he did not mean Nan. 

"Well, if she is a fairy maybe she can wave her magic wand and put usall back on the track again, " went on the man. "Can you do that, little fairy?" he asked. "Where is your magic wand?"

"I--I hasn't any, " answered Flossie, who was feeling a bit shy andbashful because so many persons were looking at her and smiling. 

"Well, here comes the conductor, " said some one. "Perhaps he can tellus what the matter is, even if he can't put the train back on therails. What's wrong, conductor?" asked a man whose hair was alltousled from having gotten out of his berth in such a hurry. 

"There has been an accident, " explained the train conductor. "It isn'ta bad one, but it will hold us here for an hour or two. "

"Is any one hurt?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"No, I'm glad to say no one is, " the conductor said. "Our train raninto a freight car that stuck too far over the edge of its own trackout on our track. Our engine smashed the freight car, some damage wasdone to the locomotive itself, and the crash threw some of our carsoff the rails. But no one was hurt more than being shaken up. "

"That's good, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "Then had we better stay right in ourcar?" he asked. 

"Oh, yes, " answered the conductor. "That's what I came in to tell you--stay right here. We have sent for the wrecking crew, and we will goon again as soon as we can. There is no danger. You need not beafraid, even if you get shaken up again. "

"Are you going to shake us up?" asked Bert. 

"No, but the wrecking crew will when they pull this car back on therails, " the conductor replied. "But don't be afraid--no one will behurt. "

The passengers quieted down after hearing this, and some of them whowere good sleepers went back to bed. The Bobbsey twins were too wide-awake, their mother thought, to go to sleep so soon after theexcitement, so she let them sit up a while to get quiet. 

Going to the end of the car, in the little passageway near the washroom, Bert and Nan could look out of the window. They saw men withflaring oil torches hurrying here and there. These were the railroadworkers getting ready to put the train back on the track. 

There was not so much shouting, now that it was known no one was hurt, and soon the children heard the puffing of engines and the rumble ofwheels. 

"The wrecking crew has arrived, " said Mr. Bobbsey, who came down theaisle to see if Bert and Nan were all right. 

"What's a wrecking crew, Daddy?" asked Nan. 

"They are the men who clear away wrecked trains, " her father answered. "Don't you remember? You saw them at the wreck in our town. "

"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Nan. "There was one car with a big derrick on it, and it lifted the broken pieces of the wrecked cars out of the way. "

"That's the wreck Mr. Hickson was hurt in, " went on Bert. "I guess hiswreck was worse than this one. "

"Yes, it was, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "All railroad wrecks are bad enough, but some are worse than others. But now I think you children hadbetter get back to your berths. There isn't much more to see. You canfeel the rest. "

"You mean we can feel the bumping when they put us back on the rails?"asked Bert. 

"Yes, " his father told him. 

And a little while after Bert and his sister had got back in theirberths they did feel a rumbling and bumping. There were more shoutsout in the darkness of the night, and, peering under the edges oftheir curtains, the children saw more flickering torches and movingmen. 

Then came an extra big bump, and the sleeping car swayed from side toside. A moment later it began to roll along smoothly. 

"I guess we're back on the track now, " said Bert. 

"Yes, " his father answered, "we are. Now we'll travel along. "

And in about two hours after the wreck the train was on its journeyagain, not much the worse for the accident. The freight car had beensmashed and so had the front part of the passenger engine. But anotherlocomotive had come with the wrecking train, and this was used to haulthe Bobbseys and other passengers where they wanted to go. 

"Now we'll have something to tell Mr. Hickson when we get back home, "said Bert to Nan the next morning at the breakfast table. 

"You mean about the wreck?" asked Nan. 

"Yes, " replied Bert. "Course ours wasn't a big wreck, like his, but itwas big enough. "

"I don't want another, " said Nan. "I like Mr. Hickson; don't you, Bert?"

"Yes, I do. And I wish we could find his two sons for him, but I don'ts'pose we can. "

"No, " agreed Nan, "we can't ever do that. "

It was about noon on the day after the night of the wreck, that Mr. Bobbsey said to his wife and children:

"We will get out soon. "

"Shall we be in Cowdon?" asked Bert. "At the ranch?"

"No, not exactly at the ranch, " his father told him. "But we'll reachthe town of Cowdon, and from there we'll drive to the ranch, which isabout ten miles from the railroad. "

"Oh, may I ride a pony out to the ranch?" cried Bert. 

"I don't believe they'll bring any ponies to meet us, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "Later on you may ride one. "

The train pulled into the little western station. Some time since thebig stretches of woods and trees had been left behind, and now theBobbseys were in the open prairie country--the land of cattle, cowboysand, at least Bert hoped, of Indians also. 

"This is really the West, isn't it?" said Bert to his father, as theysaw the wide, rolling fields on either side of the train. 

"Yes, this is the West, " was the answer. 

"But where are the cowboys and the cows?" Nan asked. 

"Oh, they don't come so close to the railroad, " her father explained. "You'll see them when you get to the ranch. "

Then the train reached the small station, as I have said. It seemed tobe very lonesome. There were no other buildings near it--only a watertank, and there was not an Indian in sight. At first Bert thoughtthere was not even a cowboy, but when he saw a man sitting on the seatof a wagon with some horses hitched in front--horses that had queer, rough marks on their flanks--Bert cried:

"Oh, say! I guess he's a cowboy!" and he pointed to the driver. 

"He hasn't any cow!" exclaimed Flossie, and she wondered why the manin the wagon laughed. 

"No, I haven't any cows with me, " he said; "but if this is the Bobbseyfamily I can take you to a place where you will see lots of cattle. "

"We are the Bobbseys, " said the children's father, walking over to theman in the wagon, "Are you from Three Star ranch?"

"That's where I'm from. I'm in charge, for the time being, but I can'tstay much longer. You'll have to get another foreman. I got yourletter, saying you were coming out, so I stayed to meet you. And now, if you're ready, I'll take you all out to Three Star. "

"Is Three Star the name of a city?" asked Bert. 

"No, it's the name of the ranch your mother owns, my boy, " said theman, who gave his name as Dick Weston. "All the cattle are marked, orbranded, with three stars--like the ponies there, " and he pointed tothe rough marks on the flanks of the team. 

"As soon as I saw those marks I knew you must be a cowboy, " said Bert. "You do ride a horse, don't you?"

"That's about all I do, " said Foreman Weston, with a smile. "I don'toften ride in a wagon, but I knew you'd need one to-day to get to theranch. Now, if you're ready, we'll start. "

The train had gone on, after leaving the Bobbseys and their baggage. Into the wagon the twins were helped. Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey took theirseats, the driver called to the horses and away they trotted. 

"Is Cowdon much of a town?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, as they drove along. 

"No, not much more than you can see over there, " and Dick Westonpointed with his whip to a few houses and a store or two on theprairie, about a mile from the railroad station. "We don't go throughit to get to Three Star ranch. We turn off to the north, " and he drovealong the prairie road. 

"Oh, look at that snake!" suddenly cried Bert, pointing to one thatwiggled and twisted across the road. 

"Yes, and you want to look out for those snakes, " said the driver. "That's a rattler, and poisonous. Keep away from 'em!"

"Yes indeed they must!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Are there any otherdangers out here?"

"Well, not many, no, ma'am. And rattlers aren't to be feared if youlet 'em alone. Just keep clear of 'em. They'll run away from yourather than fight. "

Up and down little, rolling hills went the wagon, drawing the Bobbseytwins. They dipped down into a hollow, and for a time nothing could beseen but green fields. 

"Where are the cows?" asked Nan. 

"And the cowboys?" Bert wanted to know. 

"You'll see 'em soon, " was the promise of the driver. 

All of a sudden a great noise burst out. There was the shooting ofpistols and loud shouts. 

"Yi! Yi! Yip!" came in shrill cries. 

"Woo! Wow!" sounded, as if in answer. 

"Bang! Bang!" went the firearms. 

"What is that?" cried Nan, holding her hands over her ears. 

"Those are the cowboys, " answered Dick Weston, with a smile. "That'stheir way of telling you they're glad to see you. Here we are at theranch. "

CHAPTER XVIII

A RUNAWAY PONY

Suddenly the noise of the shooting and shouting stopped. The childrenlooked up toward the top of a little hill, for the sounds seemed tohave come from the other side of that. As yet they had seen nothingthat looked like a ranch, nor had they caught a glimpse of any cows orcowboys. 

But, all at once Flossie cried:

"Oh, there they are! I see 'em!"

"So do I!" echoed Freddie. 

And, with that, over the hill came racing about ten laughing, shoutingand cheering men, each one waving his hat in one hand while the otherheld aloft something black, and from this black thing came spurts ofsmoke and banging noises. 

"There are the cowboys! There are the cowboys! I'm going to be one ofthem!" cried Bert. 

"Yes, there are the cowboys sure enough!" said Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Will they shoot us?" asked Flossie. 

"No they won't shoot anybody!" said the driver with a laugh. "Theyonly keep their revolvers--guns they call 'em--to drive the wolvesaway from the cattle. This is only their way of having fun. They'llsoon stop. "

"Oh, what fun to be a cowboy and shoot a pistol!" cried Bert, as hesaw the prancing horses. "I'm going to be one. "

"You'll have to grow up a little bigger, " said Dick Weston; "thoughyou're pretty good-sized now. "

The Bobbsey twins and the Bobbsey grown-ups watched the cowboys asthey rode up on their "ponies", as the horses were called. 

"Hi, there!" called the leading cowboy. "Are the Bobbsey twins therein that outfit, Dick?"

"That's what!" answered the driver. "The Bobbsey twins are here! I'vegot all four of 'em!"

"Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!" cheered the cowboys. 

"How did they know our names?" asked Nan of her mother, as the cowboyson their horses surrounded the wagon. 

"Well, I had to write to tell the man in charge of the Three Starranch that we were coming, " answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "I mentioned that Ihad four little Bobbsey twins, and of course the cowboys remembered. They seem glad to see us. "

And, indeed, it was a most hearty welcome that was given the Bobbseyfamily on their trip to the great West. Not only the lumbermen, butthe men at the ranch were glad to see them. 

"Are these the cowboys who work for you?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of DickWeston as the men on the ponies put up their pistols, placed theirbroad-brimmed hats on their heads and rode along beside the wagon. 

"Well, you might say they work for you now, as you own this Three Starranch, " the foreman said. "Of course I hire the men, or rather, I did, but after I leave you'll have to get some one else to be foremen andhire the men. I only stayed until you got here. I have a big ranch ofmy own that another man and I bought. I'll have to go and look afterthat. "

"I shall be sorry to see you go, Mr. Weston, " said the children'smother. "Do you know where I can get another foreman?"

"Well, I'm sort of sorry to go myself, after I've seen these twins, "replied the driver. "We don't very often see children out here. It'stoo lonesome for 'em. But I just have to go. As for another foreman, why, I guess you won't have any trouble picking one up. Any of thecowboys will act as foreman until you get a regular one. "

"I am glad to know that, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"Is that the ranch?" asked Bert as the party of cowboys, riding aroundthe carriage, suddenly started off down a little hill, and Bertpointed to several buildings clustered together at the foot of theslope almost like the buildings at the lumber camp. 

"Well, all this is Three Star ranch, " answered the foreman, and heswept his arm in a big circle across the prairie fields. "But thoseare the ranch houses and corrals. "

"I don't see any cows, " said Nan, and this seemed to puzzle her, "The cattle are mostly out on the different fields, or 'ranges', as wecall 'em, feeding, " said Mr. Weston. "We drive them from place toplace as they eat the grass. We don't generally keep many head ofcattle right around the ranch buildings. We have a cow or two formilk, and maybe a calf or so. "

"Oh, may I have a little calf?" cried Freddie. "If I'm going to be acowboy I want a little calf. "

"I guess we can get you one, " said Mr. Weston, with a smile. "Well, here we are, " he went on, as he drove the wagon up in front of a one-story red building, with a low, broad porch. "This is the main ranchhouse where your uncle used to live part of the time, Mrs. Bobbsey, "he said. "I think you'll find it big enough for your family. We fixedit up as best we could when we heard you were coming. "

"Oh, I'm sure you have made it just like a home!" said Mrs. Bobbsey indelight, as she went into the house with her husband and the children. "Oh, how lovely!"

There were some bright-colored rugs on the floor, and in vases on thetable and mantel were some prairie flowers. On the walls of the onebig room, which seemed to take up most of the house, were oddlycolored cow skins, mounted horns, and the furry pelt of some animalthat Bert thought was a wolf. 

"I'm sure we shall like it here, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I am glad wecame to Three Star ranch. "

"So'm I!" said Bert. 

"And can I get an Indian doll?" asked Nan. 

"Well, there are a few Indians around here, " said the foreman slowly. "They come to the ranch now and then to get something to eat, or tradea pony. I don't know that I've ever seen any of 'em with a doll, though maybe they do have some. "

"Will any Indian come soon?" Nan wanted to know. 

"I hope they do--real wild ones!" cried Bert. 

"We don't have that kind here, " said the foreman. "All the Indiansaround here are tame. And I can't say when they will come. "

"Well, anyhow, there's cowboys, " said Bert hopefully. 

The baggage was brought in and then the foreman said to Mr. Bobbsey:

"When do you want to eat?"

"Right now!" exclaimed Bert, before any one else had a chance tospeak. 

"I thought so!" laughed the foreman. "Tell Sing Foo to rustle in thegrub, " he went on to one of the cowboys on the outside porch. 

"Oh, do you have a Chinese laundryman for a cook?" asked Nan, as sheheard the name. 

"Well, I guess Sing Foo can wash, bake, iron, mend clothes, or doanything around the ranch except ride a cow pony or brand a steer, "said Dick Weston. "He draws the line on that. But he surely is a goodcook with the grub, " said the foreman. 

"I don't want any grub, " put in Freddie anxiously. "I want somethingto eat. "

"Excuse me, little man. I guess I oughtn't to use slang before you. "said the foreman. "When I say 'grub' I mean something to eat And herecomes Sing Foo with it now!"

As he spoke a smiling Chinese, dressed just as the Bobbsey twins hadseen them in pictures, with his shirt outside his trousers, cameshuffling along, carrying big trays from which came deliciousappetizing odors. 

"Dlinna all leddy!" said Sing Foo. "All leddy numbla one top sidepletty quick. "

"He means dinner is all ready and that everything is cooked just rightand in a hurry, " explained the foreman. "He can't say any words wellthat have the letter "r" in 'em, " he went on in a whisper. 

The Chinese was busy setting the table, and the Bobbseys soon sat downto a fine meal, Dick Weston ate with them and explained things aboutthe ranch to Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey. The twins were too busy lookingaround the room and out of the windows through which now and then theycould see some of the cowboys, to pay much attention to the talk ofthe grown-ups. 

As Mr. Weston had said, he was going to give up being foreman of ThreeStar ranch to take charge of a place he and another man had bought. Hewas only staying until Mrs. Bobbsey could come and take charge of herproperty. But Mr. Weston said she would have no trouble, with herhusband and the cowboys to help her. "

"But I don't know anything about cows or cowboys, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "When it comes to lumber and trees I'm all right. But I'll be of nouse here, We must get another foreman, my dear, " he said to his wife. 

"Yes, undoubtedly, " she agreed. "Oh, look at the children, " she wenton, pointing out of the window. Bert and Nan and Flossie and Freddiehad left the table after the meal, and were now out near one of thecattle yards, or corrals, standing beside a little cart to which apony was hitched. 

"They mustn't get into that pony cart, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, for she sawBert lifting Freddie up into the small wagon, while Nan was doing thesame for Flossie. 

"They won't hurt it, ma'am, " said the foreman. "I brought that ponycart around on purpose, so you could give it to the children. It'sbeen here some time, but as there weren't any children it hasn't beenused much. The boys got the cart out and mended it when they heard theBobbsey twins were coming. "

"That is very kind of them, I'm sure, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "Is the ponysafe to drive?"

"Oh, yes, your older boy or girl can manage him all right. Look, they're all in now. We can go out and I'll tell them what to do. "

But before Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey and the foreman could reach the ponycart, in which the Bobbsey twins were now seated, something happened. There was the report of a shot, and a moment later the pony startedoff at a fast gallop, dragging the cart and the children after him. 

"Oh, he's running away!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Stop the runaway pony!"

CHAPTER XIX

THE WILD STEER

Ponies can not run as fast as can horses, not being as large. But thepony drawing the small cart into which the Bobbsey twins had climbedseemed to go very swiftly indeed. Before Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey and DickWeston, the foreman, could hurry outside the ranch house, the pony andcart were quite a distance down the road which led over the prairiesto the distant cattle ranges. 

"Oh, the children! What will happen to them?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, asshe saw the twins being carried away. 

"Perhaps Bert can get hold of the reins and stop the pony, " said Mr. Bobbsey, as he hurried along with his wife. 

"If he can do that they'll be all right, " said the foreman. "The ponyis a good one, and I never knew him to run away before. That shot musthave frightened him. "

But whatever had caused the pony to run away, the little horsecertainly was going fast. Sitting in the cart, the Bobbsey twins hadbeen too frightened at first to know what was going on. As soon asBert and Nan had followed Flossie and Freddie up into the small cartthe shot had sounded and away the pony galloped, the reins almostslipping over the dashboard. 

"Oh, Bert!" cried Nan, grasping Flossie and Freddie around theirwaists so the small twins would not fall out, "what shall we do?"

Bert did not answer just then. For one thing he had to hold on to theside of the cart so he would not be jostled out. And another reason hedid not answer Nan was because he was trying to think what was thebest thing to do. 

He looked ahead down the ranch road, and did not see anything intowhich the pony might crash, and so hurt them all. The road was clear. Behind him Bert could hear his mother, his father, and the foremanshouting. Bert hoped some of the cowboys might be there also, and thatthey would run after and stop the pony. But when he looked back he didnot see any of the big, jolly, rough men on their speedy little cowponies. 

Bert saw his father and mother, and also Mr. Weston running after thepony cart, and Bert wondered why the foreman did not get on his horseand gallop down the road. Afterward Bert learned that the foreman hadloaned his horse to another cowboy, who had ridden on it to a distantpart of the ranch. And none of the cowboys was near by when the ponyran away. 

"Oh, Bert! what will happen?" asked Nan, still holding Flossie andFreddie to keep them from falling out of the swaying cart. "What arewe going to do?"

"I'm going to try to stop this pony!" answered Bert. He saw where thereins had nearly slipped over the dashboard. The reins were buckledtogether, and the loop had caught on one of the ends of the nickle-plated rail on top of the dashboard. Bert leaned forward to get holdof the reins, so he might bring the pony to a stop, but the littlehorse gave a sudden jump just then, as a bird flew in front of him. The reins slipped down and dragged along the ground. Bert could notreach them, and the pony seemed to go faster than ever. 

"Oh, dear!" cried Nan. "We'll all be hurt!"

Flossie and Freddie were very much frightened, and clung closely toSister Nan. 

But presently Freddie plucked up courage and then grew excited, andafter a minute or two he called out:

"We're havin' a fast ride, we are!"

"Too fast!" exclaimed Bert. "But maybe he'll get tired pretty soon andstop!"

However, the pony did not seem to be going to stop very soon. On andon he ran, with Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey and the ranch foreman being leftfarther and farther behind. 

Suddenly, along a side path that joined the main road on which thepony was running away, appeared the figure of a man on a horse. He wastrotting along slowly, at first, but as soon as he caught sight of thepony cart and the children in it, this man made his horse go muchfaster. 

"Sit still! Sit still! I'll stop your pony for you!" called the man. 

Bert and Nan heard. They looked up and saw the stranger waving hishand to them. He was guiding his galloping horse so as to cut acrossin front of their trotting pony. 

In a few moments the man on the big horse was closer. Then began arace between the horse and the pony, and because the horse was biggerand had longer legs it won. The man galloped up beside the pony cart, leaped down from his saddle and caught the pony by the bridle. It waseasy for the man to halt the little horse, and bring the pony to astop. 

"There you are, children!" said the man. "Not hurt, I hope?"

"No, sir, " answered Bert. "We're all right. "

"Thank you, " added Nan, for she noticed that Bert was forgetting thisvery important part. 

"Oh, yes. Thank you!" said Bert. 

"You are quite welcome, " the man said, "But you shouldn't try to makeyour pony go so fast. "

"We didn't make him go fast, " replied Bert "We'd just got in the cart, to see if we would all fit, and somebody shot a gun and the pony ranaway. "

"Did he run far?" asked the man. 

"Yes, he gave us a long ride, " answered Freddie. 

"Oh, it wasn't so very far, " added Nan. "Though it seemed like a goodway because we went so fast. "

"We're from Three Star ranch, " explained Bert. 

"Oh, so you live on a ranch, " said the man. "Well, I'm looking for aranch myself. "

"We don't exactly live on a ranch, " went on Bert. "But it's mymother's, and we came out West to see it. Before that we were at alumber camp. "

"My! you are doing some traveling, " exclaimed the man, who was rubbingthe velvet nose of the pony. "Are these some of your friends coming?"he asked, looking down the road. 

The Bobbsey twins turned and looked, and saw their father and motherand the foreman hurrying along. When the father and mother saw thatthe pony had been stopped and that the children were safe, they wereno longer frightened. 

"He stopped the pony for us, " explained Bert, pointing to the strangerwho had mounted his horse as Mr. Weston took hold of the pony'sbridle, so it would not try to run away again. 

"You appeared just in time, " said Mr. Bobbsey to the strange man. "Thechildren might have been hurt, only for you. "

"Well, I'm glad I could stop the runaway, " was the answer. "They saidthey lived on a ranch around here. "

"Yes, the Three Star, " said Mr. Weston. "You look like a cattlemanyourself, " he added. 

"I am, " said the man. "My name is Charles Dayton, and I am looking fora place to work. I was foreman at the Bar X ranch until that outfitwas sold. I've been looking for a place ever since. "

"The Bar X!" cried Mr. Weston. "I know some of the cowboys over there. And so you are looking for a place as foreman. Why, this is strange. Mrs. Bobbsey here, the owner of Three Star, is looking for a foreman. I'm going to leave. "

"Well, I would be very glad to work for Mrs. Bobbsey at Three Star, "said Mr. Dayton. 

"Are you any relation to a Bill Dayton?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, while Bertand Nan listened for the answer. Flossie and Freddie were out of thecart now, gathering prairie flowers, and did not pay much attention tothe talk. 

"Bill Dayton is my brother, " answered Charles Dayton. "But I did notknow he was around here. The last I heard of him he was in the lumberbusiness. "

"And he is yet!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "He is foreman of a lumbertract my uncle left me. "

"And if you are as good a cattleman as your brother is a lumberman Ithink we can find a place for you at Three Star, " said Mr. Bobbsey. 

"I can tell you Mr. Dayton is a good cattleman, " said Mr. Weston. "Hehad to be, to act as foreman at Bar X ranch. You won't make anymistake in hiring him. "

"Will you come to us?" asked Mr. Bobbsey who seemed to have taken asmuch of a liking to the newcomer as had the children. 

"Well, I'm looking for a place, " was the answer, "and I'll do my bestto suit you. It's queer, though, that you know my brother Bill. "

"He mentioned you, " said Mr. Bobbsey, "but he said he had lost trackof you. "

"Yes, we don't write to each other very often. Both of us have beentraveling around a lot. But now, if I settle down, I'll send Bill aletter and tell him where I am. "

There was room for Mrs. Bobbsey in the pony cart, and she rode backwith the children. There seemed to be no danger now, for the littlehorse had quieted down. 

"He hadn't been out of the stable for some time, and that's what madehim so frisky, " said the foreman, who was soon going to leave ThreeStar. "He won't run away again. "

And Toby, which was the name of the pony, never did. Bert and Nandrove him often after that, and there never was a bit of trouble. EvenFreddie and Flossie were allowed to drive, when Bert or Nan sat on theseat near them, in case of accident. 

Mr. Charles Dayton soon proved that he was a good cattleman, and hewas made foreman of Three Star ranch after Dick Weston left. Thecowboys seemed to like their new foreman. 

"And, now that you are one of us here, " said Mrs. Bobbsey to her newforeman, "don't forget to write and let your brother know where youare. "

"I'll do that!" promised the cattleman. 

Busy and happy days on the ranch followed. While Mr. And Mrs. Bobbseylooked after the new business of raising and selling cattle, theBobbsey twins had good times. The new foreman and the cowboys werevery fond of the children, and were with them as much as they could beduring the day. They took them on little picnics and excursions, andtwo small ponies were trained so Bert and Nan could ride them. As forFlossie and Freddie, they had to ride in the cart. Freddie wanted tobe a cowboy, and straddle a pony as Bert did, but his mother thoughthim too small. But Freddie and Flossie had good times in the cart, sothey did not miss saddle rides. 

Bert and Nan were very fond of their ponies. The little horses soongrew very tame and gentle, though Bert and his sister did not go veryfar away from the main buildings unless some of the cowboys were withthem. 

One afternoon, when they had been on the ranch about a month, and wereliking it more and more every day, Bert and Nan asked their mother ifthey could ride on their ponies across the fields to gather a new kindof wild flower a cowboy had told them about. 

"Yes, you may go, " Mrs. Bobbsey said. "But be careful, and do not ridetoo far. Be home in time for supper. "

"We will, " promised Bert. 

He and Nan set off. It was pleasant riding over the green prairie. Nowand then the children saw little prairie dogs scurrying in and out oftheir burrows. And once they saw a rattlesnake. But the serpentcrawled quickly out of the way, and Bert and Nan did not stop to seewhere it went. They hurried on. 

They reached the little hollow in the hills where the red flowersgrew, and, getting out of their saddles, began to pick some. 

"They'll make a lovely bouquet for the living room, " said Nan. 

"Yes, but I guess we have enough, " said Bert, "I don't want to stayhere too long. Mr. Dayton promised to show me how to throw a lasso to-day, and I've got to learn; that is, if I'm going to be a cowboy. "

"All right, " agreed Nan. "We'll get in a minute. I want to get just afew more flowers. " She was gathering another handful of the redblossoms when suddenly she looked up, and something she saw on top ofa little hill caused her to cry:

"Oh, Bert, look! Look! What's that?"

Bert glanced up. He saw a wild steer looking at him and his sister. The big animal was lashing his tail from side to side and pawing theearth with one hoof. Suddenly it gave a loud bellow and rushed downthe slope. 

CHAPTER XX

THE ROUND-UP

Bert and Nan were really too frightened to know what to do. If theyhad been more used to the ways of the West, and had known more aboutcattle and ranches, they would have at once run for their ponies andhave got on the backs of the little animals. Cattle in the West are soused to seeing men on horse back that sometimes if they see them onfoot on the wide prairie, the cattle chase the men, thinking they area strange enemy. 

Perhaps it was this way with the wild steer. At any rate, seeing Bertand Nan gathering flowers down in the hollow of the hills, the steer, with loud bellows, started down toward them. The two ponies wereeating grass near by, and Bert and Nan could easily have reached theirpets if they had thought of it. 

But they were so frightened that they could not think. As for theponies, those little horses merely looked up. They saw the steer, but, as they saw such animals every day, the ponies were not at allinterested. 

"Oh, Bert, " cried Nan, "what shall we do?"

She had dropped her flowers and was running toward her brother. 

"You get behind me!" cried Bert. "Maybe I can throw a stone at thissteer!"

He, too, had dropped the red blossoms he had gathered, and was lookingabout for a stone. But he could not see any, and the wild steer wascoming on down the slope. I do not mean that the steer was wild, likea wild lion or tiger, but that he was just excited by seeing twochildren off their ponies. If Bert and Nan had been in the saddlesperhaps the steer never would have chased them. 

But now with tail flapping in the air, and with angry shakes of hishead, he was running toward them. Nan got behind her brother, and Bertstood ready to do what he could. The children did not realize how muchdanger they were in and they might have been hurt but for somethingthat happened. 

At first neither Bert nor Nan knew what this happening was. One momentthey saw the wild steer racing toward them, and the next minute theysaw the big animal, larger than a cow, tumbling down the hill headover heels. The steer seemed to have fallen, and a look toward thecrest of the hill showed what had made him. For up at the top of theslope, sitting on his big horse, was the new foreman, Charley Dayton, and from his saddle horn a rope stretched out. The other end of therope was around the steer's neck, and it was a pull on this rope thathad caused the big beast to turn a somersault. 

"Oh, he lassoed the steer! He lassoed him!" cried Bert, as he saw whathad happened. 

And that is just what the foreman had done. He had been out ridingover the ranch, and had seen the lone steer on top of the hill whichhe knew led down into a hollow filled with red flowers. 

"At first, " said Mr. Dayton to Nan and Bert, telling them the storyafterward, "I couldn't imagine why the steer was acting so queerly. Ithought may be he didn't like the red flowers, so I rode up to seewhat the matter was. Then I saw you children down in the hollow andsaw the steer rushing at you. 

"There was only one thing I could do, and I did it. I didn't even stopto shout to you Bobbsey twins!" said the foreman. "I just swung mylasso and caught the steer before he caught you. "

"You made him turn a somersault, didn't you?" said Nan, as she andBert looked at the big beast which was now lying on the ground. 

"Well, he sort of made himself do it, " answered the foreman, with alaugh. "He was going so fast, and the lasso rope on his neck made himstop so quickly that he went head over heels. But you had better getinto your saddles now, and I'll let this fellow up. "

Mr. Dayton had twisted some coils of his rope around the steer's legsso the animal could not get up until the foreman was ready to let him. But as soon as Bert and Nan had gathered the flowers they had dropped, and had seated themselves in their saddles, and when the foreman hadmounted his horse, he shook loose the coils of the rope, or lasso, andthe steer scrambled to his feet. 

"Will he chase us again?" asked Nan. 

"No, I guess I taught him a lesson, " answered Mr. Dayton. 

The steer shook himself and looked at the three figures on the horseand ponies. He did not seem to want to chase anybody now, and after ashake or two of his head the steer walked away, up over the hill andacross the prairie, to join the rest of the herd from which he hadstrayed. 

"You want to be careful about getting off your ponies when you see alone steer, " the foreman told Bert and Nan. "Some animals think aperson on foot is a new kind of creature and want to give chase rightaway. On a cattle ranch keep in the saddle as much as you can when youare among the steers. "

Bert and his sister said they would do this, and then they rode homewith the red flowers. Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey thanked the foreman foragain saving the children from harm. 

Mr. Charles Dayton seemed to fit in well at Three Star ranch. He wasas good a ranchman as his brother Bill was a lumberman. And, true tothe promise he had given Mrs. Bobbsey, the ranch foreman wrote toBill, giving the address of Three Star. 

"I had a letter from Bill to-day, Mrs. Bobbsey, " said the ranchforeman to the children's mother one afternoon. 

"Did you? That's good!" she answered. 

"And he says he'd like to see me, " went on Mr. Charles Dayton. "Hesays he has something to tell me. "

"Did he say what it was about?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, while Bert and Nanstood near by. They were waiting for the foreman to saddle the poniesfor them, as he always wanted to be sure the girths were made tightenough before the twins set out for a ride. 

"No, Bill didn't say what it was he wanted to tell me, " went onCharley. "And he writes rather queerly. "

"Your brother seemed to me to be a bit odd, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "As ifhe had some sort of a secret. "

"Oh, well, I guess he has had his troubles, the same as I have, " saidthe ranch foreman. 

"We were boys together, and we didn't have a very good time. I supposeit was as much our fault as any one's. But you don't think of that atthe time. Well, I'll be glad to see Bill again, but I don't know whenwe'll get together. Are you waiting for me, Bobbsey twins?" he asked. 

"Yes, if you please, " answered Nan. 

"We'd like our ponies, " added Bert, "and you promised to show me somemore how to lasso. "

"And so I will!" promised the foreman. He had already given Bert a fewlessons in casting the rope. Of course Bert could not use a lasso ofthe regulation size, so one of the cowboys had made him a little one. With this Bert did very well. Freddie also had to have one, but hiswas only a toy. Freddie wanted his father to call him "little cowboy"now, instead of "little fireman, " and, to please Freddie, Mr. Bobbseydid so once in a while. 

After Bert had been given a few more lessons in casting the lasso, thetwo older Bobbsey twins went for a ride on their ponies, while Mrs. Bobbsey took Flossie and Freddie for a ride in the pony cart. 

It was about a week after this that the Bobbsey twins were awakenedone morning by a loud shouting outside the ranch house where theyslept. 

"What's the matter? Have the Indians come?" asked Bert, for some ofthe cowboys had said a few Indians from a neighboring reservationusually dropped in for a visit about this time of year. 

"No, I don't see any Indians, " answered Nan, who had looked out of awindow, after hurriedly getting dressed. "But I see a lot of thecowboys. "

"Oh, maybe they're going after the Indians!" exclaimed Bert. I'm goingto ask mother if I can go along!"

"I want to go, too, and get an Indian doll!" exclaimed Nan. 

But when they went out into the main room, where their father andmother were eating breakfast, and when the two Bobbsey twins hadbegged to be allowed to go with the cowboys to see the Indians, Mr. Bobbsey said: "This hasn't anything to do with Indians, Bert. "

"What's it all about then?" asked the boy. 

"It's the round-up, " answered his father. "The cowboys are gettingready for the half-yearly round-up, and that's what they're so excitedabout. "

"Oh, may I see the round-up?" begged Bert, "What is it?" asked Nan. "What's a round-up?"

Before Mr. Bobbsey could answer Mr. Dayton, the foreman, came hurryinginto the room. He seemed quite excited. 

"Excuse me for disturbing your breakfast, " he said to Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey. "But I have some news for you. Some Indians have run off partof your cattle!"

CHAPTER XXI

IN THE STORM

Bert Bobbsey did not pay much attention to what the foreman said, except that one word "Indians. "

"Oh, where are they?" cried the boy. "I want to see them!"

"And I'd like to see them myself!" exclaimed the foreman. "If I couldfind them I'd get back the Three Star cattle. "

"Did Indians really take some of the steers?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"Yes, " answered the foreman, "they did. You know we are getting readyfor the round-up. That is a time, twice a year, when we count thecattle, and sell what we don't want to keep, " he explained, for he sawthat Nan wanted to ask a question. 

"Twice a year, " went on the foreman, "once in the spring and again inthe fall, we have what is called a round-up. That is we gathertogether all the cattle on the different parts of the ranch. Someherds have been left to themselves for a long time, and it may happenthat cattle belonging to some other ranch-owner have got in with ours. We separate, or 'cut out' as it is called, the strange cattle, givethem to the cowboys who come for them, and look after our own. That isa round-up, and sometimes it lasts for a week or more. The cowboystake a 'chuck', or kitchen wagon with them, and they cook their mealsout on the prairie. "

"Oh, that's fun!" cried Bert. "Please, Daddy, mayn't I go on theround-up?"

"And have the Indians catch you?" asked his mother. 

"Oh, there isn't any real danger from the Indians, " said the foreman. "They are not the wild kind. Only, now and again, they run off a bunchof cattle from some herd that is far off from the main ranch. This iswhat has happened here. "

"How did you find out about it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"A cowboy from another ranch told me, " answered the foreman. "Some ofhis cattle were taken and he followed along the trail the Indiansleft. He saw them, but could not catch them. But he saw some of thecattle that had strayed away from the band of Indians, and thesesteers were branded with our mark--the three stars. "

"Well, maybe the poor Indians were hungry, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Andthat is why they took some of our steers. "

"Yes, I reckon that's what they'd say, anyhow, " remarked the foreman. "But it won't do to let the redmen take cattle any time they feel likeit. They have money, and can buy what they want. I wouldn't mindgiving them a beef or two, but when it comes to taking part of a herd, it must be stopped. "

"How can it be stopped?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"That's just what I came in to talk to you about, " went on Mr. Dayton. "Shall I send some of the cowboys after the Indians to see if they cancatch them, and get back our cattle?"

"I suppose you had better, " Mr. Bobbsey answered. "If we let this passthe Indians will think we do not care, and will take more steers nexttime. Yes, send the cowboys after the Indians. "

"But let the Indians have a steer or two for food, if they need it, "begged Mrs. Bobbsey, who had a kind heart even toward an Indian cattlethief, or "rustler", as they are called. 

"Well, that can be done, " agreed Mr. Dayton. "Then I'll send some ofthe cowboys on the round-up, and others after the Indians. They canwork together, the two bands of cowboys. "

"Oh, mayn't I come?" begged Bert. "I can throw a lasso pretty goodnow, and maybe I could rope an Indian. "

"And maybe you could get me an Indian doll!" put in Nan. 

"Oh, no! We couldn't think of letting you go, Bert, " said Mr. Bobbsey. "The cowboys will be gone several nights, and will sleep out on theopen prairie. When you get bigger you may go. "

Bert looked so disappointed that the foreman said:

"I'll tell you what we can do. Toward the end of the round-up the boysdrive the cattle into the corrals not far from here. The children cango over then and see how the cowboys cut out different steers, and howwe send some of the cattle over to the railroad to be shipped backeast. That will be seeing part of the round-up, anyhow. "

And with this Bert had to be content. He and Nan, with Flossie andFreddie, watched the cowboys riding away on their ponies, shouting, laughing, waving their hats and firing their revolvers. 

While the round-up was hard work for the cowboys, still they hadexciting times at it and they always were glad when it came. The ranchseemed lonesome after the band of cowboys had ridden away, but SingFoo, the Chinese cook, was left, and one or two of the older men tolook after things around the buildings. Mr. Dayton also stayed to seeabout matters for Mrs. Bobbsey. 

It was well on toward fall now, though the weather was still warm. Thedays spent by the Bobbsey twins in the great West had passed soquickly that the children could hardly believe it was almost time forthem to go back to Lakeport. 

"Can't we stay here all winter?" asked Bert. "If I'm going to be acowboy I'd better stay on a ranch all winter. "

"Oh, the winters here are very cold, " his father said. "We had bettergo back to Lakeport for Christmas, anyhow, " and he smiled at his wife. 

"Maybe Santa Claus doesn't come out here so far, " said Freddie. 

"Then I don't want to stay, " said Flossie. "I want to go where SantaClaus is for Christmas. "

"I think, then, we'd better plan to go back home, " said Mrs. Bobbsey. 

It was rather lonesome at the ranch now, with so many of the cowboysaway, but the children managed to have good times. The two smallertwins often went riding in the pony cart, while Bert and Nan likedsaddle-riding best. 

One day as Bert and his sister started off their mother said to them:"Don't go too far now. I think there is going to be a storm. "

"We won't go far!" Bert promised. 

Now the two saddle ponies were feeling pretty frisky that day. Theyseemed to know cold weather was coming, when they would have to trotalong at a lively pace to keep warm. And perhaps Nan and Bert, remembering that they were soon to leave the ranch, rode farther andfaster than they meant to. 

At any rate they went on and on, and pretty soon Nan said:

"We had better go back. We never came so far away before, all alone. And I think it's going to rain!"

"Yes, it does look so, " admitted Bert. "And I guess we had better goback. I thought maybe I could see some of the cowboys coming home fromthe round-up, but I guess I can't. "

The children turned their ponies about, and headed them for the ranchhouse. As they did so the rain drops began to fall, and they had notridden a half mile more before the storm suddenly broke. 

"Oh, look at the rain!" cried Nan. 

"And _feel_ it!" exclaimed Bert. "This is going to be a bigstorm! Let's put on our ponchos. "

The children carried ponchos on their saddles. A poncho is a rubberblanket with a hole in the middle. To wear it you just put your headthrough the hole, the rubber comes down over your shoulders and youare kept quite dry, even in a hard storm. 

Bert and Nan quickly put on their ponchos and then started theirponies again. The rain was now coming down so hard that the brotherand sister could scarcely see where they were going. 

"Are we headed right for the house?" asked Nan. 

"I--I guess so, " answered Bert. "But I'm not sure. "

CHAPTER XXII

NEW NAMES

Bert and Nan rode on through the rain which seemed to come down harderand harder. Soon it grew so dark, because it was getting to be lateafternoon and because of the rain clouds, that the children could notsee in the least where they were going. 

"Oh, Bert, maybe we are lost!" said Nan, with almost a sob as sheguided her pony up beside that of her brother. 

"Oh, I don't guess we are exactly _lost_, " he said. "The poniesknow their way back to the ranch houses, even if we don't. "

"Do you think so?" Nan asked. 

"Yes, Mr. Dayton told me if ever I didn't know which way to go, justto let the reins rest loose on the horse's neck, and he'd take mehome. "

"We'll do that!" decided Nan. 

But whether the ponies did not know their way, or whether the ranchbuildings were farther off than either Bert or Nan imagined, thechildren did not know. All they knew was that they were out in therain, and they did not seem to be able to get to any shelter. Therewere no trees on the prairies about Three Star ranch, as there were inthe woods at Lumberville. 

"Oh, Bert, what shall we do?" cried Nan. "It's getting terribly darkand I'm afraid!"

Bert was a little afraid also, but he was not going to let his sisterknow that. He meant to be brave and look after her. They rode along alittle farther, and suddenly Nan cried:

"Oh, Bert! Look! Indians!"

Bert, who was riding along with his head bent low to keep the rain outof his face, glanced up through the gathering dusk. He saw, just aheadof him and coming toward him and his sister a line of men on horses. But Bert either looked more closely than did his sister or else heknew more about Indians. For after a second glance he cried:

"They aren't Indians! They're cowboys! Hello, there!" cried the boy. "Will you please show us the way to the house on Three Star ranch?"

Some of the leading cowboys pulled up their horses, and stopped onhearing this call. They peered through the rain and darkness and sawthe two children on ponies. 

"Who's asking for Three Star ranch?" cried one cowboy. 

"We are!" Bert answered. "We're the Bobbsey twins!"

"Oh, ho! I thought so!" came back the answer. "Well, don't worry!We'll take you home all right!"

With that some of the cowboys (and they really were that and notIndians) rode closer to Nan and Bert. And as soon as Bert caught aglimpse of the faces of some of the men he cried:

"Why, you belong to Three Star!"

"Sure!" answered one, named Pete Baldwin. "We're part of the ThreeStar outfit coming back from the round-up. But where are you twoyoungsters going?"

"We came out for a ride, " answered Bert "but it started to rain, andwe want to go home. "

"Well, you won't get home the way you are going, " said Pete. "You weretraveling right away from home when we met you. Turn your poniesaround, and head them the other way. We'll ride back with you. "

Bert and Nan were glad enough to do this. 

"It's a good thing we met you, " said Bert, as he rode beside PeteBaldwin. "And did you catch the Indians?"

"Yes, we found them, and got back your mother's cattle--all except oneor two we gave them. "

"And is the round-up all over?" asked Bert. 

"Yes, except for some cattle a few of the boys will drive in to-morrowor next day, " the cowboy answered. "You can see 'em then. It's a goodthing you youngsters had those rubber ponchos, or you'd be soakedthrough. "

The cowboys each had on one of these rubber blankets, and they did notmind the rain. Some of them even sang as their horses plodded throughthe wet. 

Bert and Nan were no longer afraid, and in about half an hour theyrode with their cowboy friends into the cluster of ranch buildings. 

"Oh, my poor, dear children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Daddy and Mr. Dayton were just going to start hunting for you! Whathappened?"

"We got lost in the rain, but the cowboys found us, " said Bert. 

"And first I thought they were Indians, " added Nan, as she shook thewater from her hair. 

"Well, it's a good thing they did find you, " said Mr. Bobbsey. 

The two Bobbsey twins were given some warm milk to drink, and soonthey were telling Flossie and Freddie about their ride in the rain. 

"I wish I could see an Indian, " sighed Freddie. 

"All I want now is an Indian doll, " said Nan. 

Two days later the cowboys came riding in with a bunch of cattle whichthey had rounded-up and cut out from a larger herd. These steers wereto be shipped away, but, for a time, were kept in a corral, or fenced-in pen, near the ranch buildings. There Bert and the other childrenwent to look at the big beasts, and the Bobbsey twins watched thecowboys at work. 

It was about a week after Bert and Nan had been lost in the rain thatMrs. Bobbsey met the foreman, Charles Dayton on the porch of the ranchhouse one day. 

"Oh, Mr. Dayton!" called the children's mother, "I have had a letterfrom your brother Bill, who has charge of my lumber tract. He iscoming on here. "

"Bill is coming here?" exclaimed the cattleman in great surprise. "Well, I'm right happy to hear that. I'll be glad to see him. Haven'tseen him for several years. Is he coming here just to see me?"

"No, " answered Mrs. Bobbsey, "he is coming here to see Mr. Bobbsey andmyself about some lumber business. After we left your brother foundthere were some papers I had not signed, so, instead of my going backto Lumberville, I asked your brother to come here. I can sign thepapers here as well as there, and this will give you two brothers achance to meet. "

"I am glad of that!" exclaimed the cattleman. "I suppose Bill and Iare going to be kept pretty busy--he among the trees and I among thecattle--so we might not get a chance to meet for a long time, only forthis. "

"That's what I thought, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, while Bert and Nanlistened to the talk, "Well, your brother will be here next week. "

"Oh, I'll be glad to see him!" exclaimed Bert. 

"So will I!" echoed Nan. "I like our lumberman. "

During the week that followed the Bobbsey twins had good times atThree Star ranch. The weather was fine, but getting colder, and Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey began to think of packing to go home. They would dothis, they said, as soon as they had signed the papers Bill Dayton wasbringing to them. 

And one day, when the wagon had been sent to the same station at whichthe Bobbseys left the train some months before, the ranch foreman cameinto the room where Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey were talking with thechildren and said:

"He's here!"

"Who?" asked Bert's father. 

"My brother Bill! He just arrived! My, but he has changed!"

"And I suppose he said the same thing about you, " laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. 

"Yes, he did, " admitted the ranch foreman. "It's been a good whilesince we were boys together. Much has happened since then. "

Bill Dayton came in to see Mrs. Bobbsey. The two brothers looked verymuch alike when they were together, though Bill was younger. Theyappeared very glad to see one another. 

Bill Dayton had brought quite a bundle of papers for Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey to sign in connection with the timber business, and it tooktwo days to finish the work. During that time the Bobbsey twins hadfun in a number of ways, from riding on ponies and in the cart, towatching the cowboys. 

One day when Nan and Bert were putting their ponies in the stableafter a ride, they saw the two Dayton brothers talking together nearthe barn. Without meaning to listen, the Bobbsey twins could not helphearing what was said. 

"Don't you think we ought to tell the boss?" asked the ranch foremanof his brother, the timber foreman. 

"You mean tell Mr. Bobbsey?" asked Bill Dayton. 

"Yes, tell Mrs. Bobbsey--she's the boss as far as we are concerned. Weought to tell them that our name isn't Dayton--or at least that thatisn't the only name we have. They've been so good to us that we oughtto tell them the truth, " answered Charles. 

"I suppose we ought, " agreed Bill. "We'll do it!"

And then they walked away, not having noticed Bert or Nan. 

The two Bobbsey twins looked at one another. 

"I wonder what they meant?" asked Nan. 

"I don't know, " answered her brother. "We'd better tell daddy ormother. "

A little later that day Bert spoke to his father, asking:

"Daddy, can a man have two names?"

"Two names? Yes, of course. His first name and his last name. "

"No, I mean can he have two last names?" went on Bert. 

"Not generally, " Mr. Bobbsey said "I think it would be queer for a manto have two last names. "

"Well, the two foremen have two last names, " said Bert. "Haven't they, Nan?"

"What do you mean?" asked their father. 

Then Bert and Nan told of having overheard Bill and Charles talkingabout the need for telling Mr. And Mrs. Bobbsey the truth about theirname. 

"What do you suppose this means?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife. 

"I don't know, " she replied. "But you remember we did think there wassomething queer about Bill Dayton at the lumber camp. "

"I know we did. I think I'll have a talk with the two foremen, " Mr. Bobbsey went on. "Maybe they would like to tell us something, but feela little nervous over it. I'll just ask them a few questions. "

And later, when Mr. Bobbsey did this, speaking of what Nan and Berthad overheard, Bill Dayton said:

"Yes, Mr. Bobbsey, we have a secret to tell you. We were going to sometime ago, but we couldn't make up our minds to it. Now we are glad Nanand Bert heard what we said. I'm going to tell you all about it. "

"You children had better run into the house, " said Mr. Bobbsey to Nanand Bert, who stood near by. 

"Oh, let them stay, " said the ranch foreman. "It isn't anything theyshouldn't hear, and it may be a lesson to them. To go to the verybottom, Mr. Bobbsey, Dayton isn't our name at all. "

"What is, then?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Hickson, " was the unexpected answer. "We are Bill and CharleyHickson. We took the name of Dayton when we ran away from home, asthat was our mother's name before she was married. And we have beencalled Bill and Charley Dayton ever since. But Hickson is our realname. "

Bert and Nan looked at one another. They felt that they were on theedge of a strange secret. 

"Bill and Charley Hickson!" exclaimed Nan. 

"Oh, is your father's name Hiram?" Bert asked excitedly. 

"Hiram? Of course it is!" cried Bill. "Hiram Hickson is the name ofour father!"

"Hurray!" shouted Bert. 

"Oh, oh!" squealed Nan. 

"Then we've found you!" yelled both together. 

"Found us?" echoed Bill. "Why, we weren't lost! That is, we--" hestopped and looked at his brother. 

"There seems to be more of a mystery here, " said Charley Hickson togive him his right name. "Do you know what it is?" he asked Mr. Bobbsey. 

"Oh, let me tell him!" cried Bert

"And I want to help!" added Nan. 

"We know where your father is!" went on Bert eagerly. 

"His name is Hiram Hickson!" broke in Nan. 

"And he works in our father's lumberyard, " added Bert. 

"He said he had two boys who--who went away from home, " said Nan, notliking to use the words "ran away. "

"And the boys names were Charley and Bill, " went on Bert. "He said hewished he could find you, and we said, when we started away from home, that maybe we could help. But I didn't ever think we could. "

"I didn't either, " said Nan. 

"Well, you seem to have found us all right, " said Bill Dayton Hickson, to give him his complete name. "Of course I'm not sure this HiramHickson who works in your lumberyard is the same Hiram Hickson who isour father, " he added to Mr. Bobbsey. 

"I believe he is, " answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Three such names couldhardly be alike unless the persons were the same. But I'll write tohim and find out. "

"And tell him we are sorry we ran away from home, " added Charles. "Wehaven't had very good luck since--at least, not until we met theBobbsey twins, " he went on. "We were two foolish boys, and we ran awayafter a quarrel. "

"Your father says it was largely his fault, " said Mrs. Bobbsey, whohad come to join in the talk. "I think you had all better forgive eachother and start all over again, " she added. 

"That's what we'll do!" exclaimed Bill. 

It was not long before a letter came from Mr. Hickson of Lakeport, saying he was sure the ranch and lumber foremen were his two missingboys. Mr. Bobbsey sent the old man money to come out to the ranch, where Bill and his brother were still staying. And on the day whenHiram Hickson was to arrive the Bobbsey twins were very much excitedindeed. 

"Maybe, after all, these won't be his boys, " said Nan. 

"Oh, I guess they will, " declared Bert. 

And, surely enough, when Hiram Hickson met the two foremen he held outhis hands to them and cried:

"My two boys! My lost boys! Grown to be men! Oh, I'm so glad I havefound you again!"

And then the Bobbseys and the cowboys who had witnessed the happyreunion went away and left the father and sons together. 

So everything turned out as Bert and Nan hoped it would, after theyhad heard the two foremen speaking of their new name. And, in a way, the Bobbsey twins had helped bring this happy time about. If they hadnot gone to the railroad accident, if they had not heard Hiram Hicksontell about his long-missing sons, and if they had not heard the cowboyand the lumberman talking together, perhaps the little family wouldnot have been so happily brought together. 

Mr. Hickson and his sons told each other their stories. As the old manhad said, there had been a quarrel at home, and his two sons, thenboys, had been hot-headed and had run away. They traveled together fora time, and then separated. They did not want to go back home. 

As the years went on, the two brothers saw each other once in a while, and then for many months they would neither see nor hear from eachother. They kept the name Dayton, which they had taken after leavingtheir father. As for Mr. Hickson, at first he did not try to find hissons, but after his anger died away he felt lonely and wanted themback. He felt that it was because of his queerness that they had goneaway. 

But, though he searched, he could not find them. 

"And I might never have found you if I hadn't been in the train wreckand met the Bobbsey twins, " said Mr. Hickson. "Coming to Lakeport wasthe best thing I ever did. "

"How's everything back in Lakeport?" asked Bert of Mr. Hickson, afterthe first greetings between father and sons were over. 

"Oh, just about the same, " was the answer, "We haven't had any moretrain wrecks, thank goodness. "

"But we were in one!" exclaimed Freddie. 

"So I heard. Well, I'm glad you weren't hurt. But I must begin tothink of getting back to your lumberyard, I guess, Mr. Bobbsey. "

"No, you're going to live with us, " declared Charley. "Part of thetime you can spend on Three Star ranch with me, and the rest of thetime you can live with Bill in the woods. "

"Well, that will suit me all right, " said Mr. Hickson, and so it wasarranged. He was to spend the winter on the ranch, where he would helphis son with Mrs. Bobbsey's cattle. Bill Hickson went back to thelumber camp, and a few days later the Bobbsey twins left for home. 

Nan had her wish in getting an Indian doll. One day, just before theywere to leave the ranch, a traveling band of Indians stopped to buysome cattle. The Indian women had papooses, and some of the Indianchildren had queer dolls, made of pieces of wood with clothes of barkand skin. Mr. Bobbsey bought four of the dolls, one each for Nan andFlossie, and two for Nan's girl friends at home. For Bert and Freddiewere purchased some bows and arrows and some Indian moccasins, orslippers, and head-dresses of feathers. So, after all, the Bobbseytwins really saw some Indians. 

"Good-bye, Bobbsey twins!" cried all the cowboys, and they fired theirrevolvers in the air. The Bobbseys were seated in the wagon, theirbaggage around them, ready to go to the station at Cowdon to take thetrain for the return to Lakeport. "Come and see us again!" yelled thecowboys. 

"We will!" shouted Nan and Bert and Flossie and Freddie. They weredriven over the prairie to the railroad station, looking back now andthen to see the shouting, waving cowboys and Charles Hickson and hisfather. The Bobbsey twins left happy hearts behind them. 

And now, as they are on their homeward way, back to Dinah and Sam, back to Snoop and Snap, we will take leave of the Bobbsey twins. 

THE END