HAPPY DAYS COMING
When Dinah called in this fashion, with worry making itself heard in her
voice, Mrs. Bobbsey always hurried to see what the matter was. Generally
it was something the smaller Bobbsey twins had done. And as she knew
Flossie and Freddie were now in the kitchen, Mother Bobbsey feared one
of the smaller children had been hurt.
"What is it, Dinah?" asked the mother, as she hurried back toward the
house. Bert and Nan, with their father, waiting only a moment, followed
Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I should think Freddie and Flossie would have had enough fun at the
picnic not to want to do any more cutting up," remarked Nan.
"You never can tell what those tykes will do," observed Bert. "I don't
hear either of 'em yelling, and that's a good sign."
But just as he spoke there came a wail from the kitchen, which, by this
time, Mrs. Bobbsey had reached, disappearing within.
"That's Flossie," said Nan.
Again came the voice of a little child, crying either in fear or in
delight at some funny happening, it could not be told which.
"There goes Freddie, letting off steam," said Bert. "I guess it isn't
anything very much. Freddie always laughs in that squealing way when
something tickles him."
Mr. Bobbsey, with the two older twins, entered the kitchen soon after
Mrs. Bobbsey. There stood Flossie and Freddie before a low kitchen
table, one leaf of which was down, so that whatever was under could not
be seen very well, on account of the shadow cast by the electric light.
And beside Flossie and Freddie stood Dinah.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Dinah says Snoop, our cat, has caught some sort of animal and has it
under the table," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"It's a big animal and it's got fur on," declared Flossie, greatly
excited.
"An' it's got yellow eyes and four legs an' it's long--it's as long as
my arm!" added Freddie, his eyes big with wonder. "Oh, it was awful
funny!" he went on, squealing with delight. "I saw Snoop drag it under
the table and I called Dinah. Didn't I, Dinah?"
"Dat's whut yo' done, honey lamb! Ah don't know whut it is Snoop has,
Mis' Bobbsey," went on the colored cook, "but it's some sort o'
animile!"
"And Snoop growled, he did, when he dragged it under the table!"
exclaimed Flossie. "I heard Snoop growl, I did! Listen!"
Surely enough the cat growled again, just as a lion or a tiger in the
jungle would growl after catching its dinner--only not so loud, of
course.
"Oh!" murmured Flossie, making a dive for her mother's skirts.
"There! Look! I saw its tail!" cried Freddie.
As he spoke just a flash of some furry animal was seen under the table
where Snoop had gone to hide.
"I hope it isn't a little skunk!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Don't worry!" advised her husband. "If it was a young skunk that Snoop
had, you'd have known it long before this. And Snoop never would try to
catch a skunk--Snoop would know better."
"But what is it? He has something!" insisted Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Maybe I can coax Snoop out," put in Nan. "He minds me better than he
does any one else. Here, Snoop! Come on out, nice Snoop!" she called in
a gentle voice.
But Snoop only growled in answer, and seemed to be shaking, beneath the
table, the unknown animal he had caught and dragged there.
"Shall I get the rake and pull him out?" asked Bert.
"No, you might hurt him," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "Go out to the garage and
get the big flash lamp from Sam. I can shine that under the table and we
can see what it is before we do anything. Evidently Snoop isn't going to
come out until he gets ready. And it may be he has a large rat or----"
Dinah gave a scream.
"Oh--a rat!" she cried.
"Maybe it's only a little mouse--I like a funny little mouse," said
Flossie.
"Well, I don't," said Dinah. "They eats mah food."
"Maybe it's only a little mole from the garden," went on Mr. Bobbsey.
"It's bigger'n a ground mole!" declared Freddie. "I saw it, an' it's
long and brown and has legs an' brown eyes that shine."
"Well, whatever it is it can't be very dangerous," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If
it was, Snoop never would have dared to get it. But I don't want to
reach under there in the dark and perhaps get bitten and scratched by
Snoop, or whatever he has. We'll wait for the flash light."
Bert now came running in with this, Sam following when he heard that the
cat had something strange under the table in the kitchen.
"Dey suah am lots ob t'ings happenin' dis day," observed Sam.
Mr. Bobbsey flashed the light under the table. The four twins had
stooped down to get a better view, and Freddie cried:
"I see its eyes shining!"
"I can see its tail! Oh, no, that's Snoop's tail!" added Flossie.
"Snoop, what have you there? Stop growling and give it to me!" demanded
Mr. Bobbsey, thrusting his hand under the table.
"Be careful," advised his wife. "It may bite."
Mr. Bobbsey laughed and thrust his hand farther under the table. There
was a little scuffle as Snoop tried to hold fast to what he had. He
clung so hard to it with teeth and claws that he was dragged over the
smooth linoleum on the floor.
"Here's your wild beast!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he arose, and held
something covered with brown fur dangling from one hand.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "That's not a rat."
"No, it's your fur neck piece," her husband said, with a laugh.
"Oh, I wore it to the picnic, for I thought it would be cool coming
home," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she took the piece of fur. "And I laid it
on the hall table. I forgot about Snoop. He must have seen it, thought
it was a strange animal, and carried it away with him. Oh, Snoop!" and
she shook her finger at the cat which, now that it had nothing to play
with, came out from beneath the table.
"It does look like an animal," said Nan.
And indeed the fur piece did. For it was fashioned with an imitation of
an animal's head, with yellow glass eyes. The fur piece was quite long
and four little legs were fastened to it. So that it is no wonder a cat,
or even a boy or a girl, at first look, would take it for something
real.
"Well, Snoop had a good time with it, while it lasted," said Mr.
Bobbsey, with a laugh.
"And my fur wouldn't have lasted much longer with him, if he'd started
to claw and bite it," remarked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm glad you called me in,
Dinah."
"Yessum, Ah thought maybe yo'd better see what the cat had, 'cause Ah
couldn't make out what 'twas," the cook answered.
"Well, now that the excitement is over, we'd better have supper," said
Mr. Bobbsey. "Or did you youngsters have enough at the picnic to last
until morning?"
"We want to eat now!" decided Bert. "That wasn't so much we had at the
picnic."
"I guess you were extra hungry, from being out of doors all day," his
mother said. "Well, supper will soon be ready."
As they ate they talked over the fun they had had at Pine Grove, and
Flossie remarked:
"I'm going to ride on a wooden lion, I am--on the merry-go-round. I'm
going to ride on the lion."
"So'm I," declared Freddie. "There are two lions, an' I'm going to ride
on one an' Flossie on the other one."
"Where's your merry-go-round?" asked Nan.
"At the fair--the Bolton County Fair," said Freddie. "I heard that funny
red-faced man say so."
"But the Bolton Fair is a long way off," went on Nan.
"Daddy will take us; won't you?" asked Flossie. "Can't we go to the
fair and ride on the merry-go-round?" she teased.
"Well, I don't know," answered Mr. Bobbsey slowly. "I suppose it would
be a good thing to visit a big county fair, and this is one of the
largest."
"But we'd have to go and stay for some time," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Bolton
is a long way off. We couldn't go and come the same day."
"One ought to spend more than a day at a big fair if he wants to see
everything," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "I never could stay as long as I
wanted to when I was a boy. Now, I was thinking perhaps we could all go
to Meadow Brook Farm for a little visit. From Meadow Brook it isn't far
to the Bolton County Fair."
"Oh, let's go!" cried Bert and Nan.
"What about school?" asked their mother.
"School doesn't open until later this fall than usual," explained Mr.
Bobbsey. "They are repairing the school house and the work will not be
finished in time for the regular fall opening. I know, for the school
board buys lumber of me.
"So, as long as the children don't have to be back until the middle of
October, we could all go to Meadow Brook, and from there visit the fair.
Would you like that?" he asked his wife.
"I think it would be lovely!"
"So do I!" echoed the Bobbsey twins.
"Well, then, we'll think about it," promised their father. "You will
have some happy days to think about until it is time to go. And now I
think it is time for my little Fairy and my brave Fireman to go to bed."
Daddy Bobbsey sometimes called the small twins by these pet names. "Come
on! Up to bed!" he called. "We'll talk more about the Bolton County Fair
another day!"
As he was carrying the smaller children up to bed, a style of travel the
little twins loved, there came a ring at the front door bell. Dinah, who
answered, came back to say:
"Dere's a p'liceman outside whut wants to see yo', Mr. Bobbsey."
"A policeman?"
"Yas, sah!"
"A policeman for me?"
"Yas, sah!"
"Dear me!" Mr. Bobbsey murmured. "What can be the matter now!"
"Oh, Daddy!" squealed Flossie, at once filled with excitement.
"What do you suppose----" began Bert, and then stopped in the midst of
his speech.
"Maybe he has found your lost coat," suggested Nan, as her father put
Flossie and Freddie down in an easy chair.