ANGRY MR. BLIPPER
"Why, it's Bob Guess!" cried Bert, dropping his bunch of flowers, so
excited was he. "It's Bob Guess!"
"So it is!" agreed Nan. "And he's crying."
There was no doubt of that: It was Bob Guess, the lad the Bobbsey twins
had seen working at the merry-go-round engine the day of the Sunday
school picnic. Bob came slowly along, sobbing hard.
"What's the matter, Bob?" asked Bert, who had taken a liking to the
ragged chap. For the time being Mr. Bobbsey's missing coat and the lap
robe were forgotten. "Why are you crying?"
"Can we help you?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
Bob Guess ceased sobbing and looked up. He seemed surprised to see the
children and their parents.
"Oh, I--I didn't know anybody was here," he stammered.
"That's all right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If there's anything we can do to
help you---- Where's Mr. Blipper, by the way? There is something I
should like to ask him. Or perhaps you can tell me."
"Not now, Dick, not now," said Mrs. Bobbsey in a whisper, with a shake
of her head at her husband. She knew what he wanted to ask--about his
coat and the robe. "Not now; he is too miserable," she went on.
"Has anything happened?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, changing his first line of
questions.
"Ye--yes," stammered Bob, not sobbing so hard now. "I--I've run away
from Mr. Blipper!"
"You've run away!" echoed Nan.
Bob nodded his head vigorously to show that he meant "yes," and he went
on:
"He treated me mean! There was a lot of hard work setting up the
merry-go-round at the Bolton Fair, and I had more than my share. He
wouldn't give me any money--he hardly gave me enough to eat. And I ran
away. I'm not done running yet, only I'm so hungry I can't go very fast
any more."
"You poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Bobbsey. "Is that why you cried--because
you were hungry?"
"Yes--yes'm," murmured Bob Guess.
"Well, we have plenty to eat," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a kindly pat on
the shoulder of the ragged boy. "Here, we'll give you a lunch, and then
maybe you can tell me what I want to know. Where is Mr. Blipper?"
"He's back there at the merry-go-round. We had some trouble with the
engine. But I guess he has it fixed by now. He's back at the fair
grounds. It opens to-morrow. That is, he's there unless he has come
chasing after me."
"Do you think he'd do that?" asked Bert. It was quite an exciting
adventure, Bert thought, to run away and be chased by Mr. Blipper.
"Well, he said if I ever ran away he'd run after me and bring me back,"
answered Bob. "Anyhow, I've run away, but it isn't as much fun as I
thought it'd be. Only I can't stand Mr. Blipper! He's too cross!"
"Poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Bobbsey again. "Get him something to eat,
Dick. He must be very hungry!"
And Bob was, to judge by the manner in which he ate some of the
Bobbsey's lunch. It was a good thing there was plenty. Having eaten all
he seemed to care for and drinking two glasses of milk, Bob leaned back
against a tree stump and said:
"Now can't I do something to pay you for my meal?"
"Do something to pay for it?" repeated Mrs. Bobbsey, wonderingly.
"Yes, Mr. Blipper says I've always got to work for my board. Sometimes
he says I'm not worth my salt."
"Well, this time there is no need of doing anything for us," said Mr.
Bobbsey. "You are welcome to what you have had to eat. But now what are
you going to do?"
"I'm going to run away farther if I can," Bob Guess answered.
"Hum! I'm not so sure that we ought to let you, now that we know about
you," went on the father of the Bobbsey twins. "Has this Mr. Blipper any
claim on you?"
"He says he adopted me and can keep me until I'm twenty-one years old."
"He may be right. I don't know about that. It must be looked into.
Anyhow, I don't feel like letting you run away, Bob," went on Mr.
Bobbsey kindly. "I'd like to have a talk with Blipper on my own account,
and I could ask him about you. Did you happen to see----"
But before Mr. Bobbsey could ask what he intended to--about his missing
coat and the lap robe--a man from the garage where the automobile had
been left to have the tire changed came across the field.
"It's a good thing you stopped when you did, Mr. Bobbsey," said the
garage man.
"Why so?"
"Because if you had gone on a little farther one of the wheels of your
car would have come off, and if you had been going fast, or down-hill,
you might have had a bad accident. I found the break when I was putting
on the tire, and I came over to ask if you wanted me to fix it."
"Yes, I suppose so. I'll come and have a look. We don't want to go on if
there is any danger."
"There is danger. And it will take half a day to mend the break."
"Half a day!" said Mr. Bobbsey, as he followed the man, forgetting for
the time all about Bob and Mr. Blipper. "That means we'll not get to
Meadow Brook to-night. Is there a good hotel in town?"
"Yes, a very good one not far from my garage."
"Well then, in case we have to remain, we can stay at the hotel. But
wait until I take a look at the broken wheel."
Mr. Bobbsey found that the garage man was right. The automobile was in
need of repairs, and had the party gone on, without noticing the break,
a bad accident might have happened.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Mrs. Bobbsey, when told of the news, "must we stay
here all night?"
"Unless I hire another auto, or you and the children go on by train,"
said her husband. "I shall have to stay here to bring our car on."
"Oh, I don't want that! No, we'll stay at the hotel. But what about
him?" she asked in a low voice, pointing to Bob Guess, who was talking
to the twins.
"That's so. We can't turn him adrift," Mr. Bobbsey agreed. "Well, I'll
get a room for him at the hotel. In the morning I can decide what to do.
I don't like to send him back to Blipper. But if the man has adopted him
he has a claim on the boy. We'll see what happens by morning."
Mrs. Bobbsey may have disliked to break the journey and stay at a
strange hotel, but the Bobbsey twins thought it great fun. The hotel was
a small country one, clean and neat, and the Bobbseys and Bob Guess were
about the only guests there.
"I'm not fit to stop at a hotel," said the ragged boy.
"Oh, you're all right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps I can get you some
clothes here. If there isn't a store that sells them I may be able to
get you a second-hand suit from the hotel keeper."
As it happened, there was no clothing store in the village of Montville,
where the stop was made. But the hotel proprietor had some clothes of
one of his sons who had gone to the city to work. Bob was given a partly
worn but very good coat and trousers.
"He's a nice looking boy when he's dressed well," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as
the lad discarded his old clothes.
"Yes," agreed her husband. "He has a good, honest face. And yet, when I
think of my coat and the lap robe---- But I'll wait until I see
Blipper."
"Do you think you will see him?"
"Yes, I imagine he'll follow this boy. He's a hard worker, Bob is, and
Blipper won't want to lose him. I shouldn't wonder but what he came on
after Bob."
"How will he know where to find him?" asked Bert, who heard what his
father and mother said.
"Oh, he can make inquiries along the way. But I'll do what I can for
Bob."
Bert and Nan, with Flossie and Freddie, had good times at the country
hotel. Their rooms were on a long corridor, and the twins raced up and
down this, playing tag and other games. No one seemed to mind.
At supper Bob ate a good meal, but did not talk much. And every time the
dining room door opened he looked around quickly, as if fearing to see
Mr. Blipper come in.
In the evening Mr. Bobbsey went down to the garage to see how the men
were progressing with the repairs to his car, for they had promised to
work all night. Bert went with his father.
"I guess you'll be able to go on in the morning, Mr. Bobbsey," the
garage man said.
"I hope so. My youngsters are anxious to get to Meadow Brook, and from
there go to the Bolton County Fair."
"That's quite a fair. Lots of attractions I hear. A merry-go-round, a
balloon, airships, and auto races. I'd go myself if I had time."
As Bert and his father reached the hotel a little later they heard loud
talking coming from the sitting room where they had left Mrs. Bobbsey
and the children. The voice of an angry man was saying:
"Well, I tell you I'm going to have that boy back! He ran away from me!
I'm his legally appointed guardian, and I want him back! You come along
with me, Bob Guess!"
Then Mrs. Bobbsey said firmly:
"Mr. Blipper, you shall not take this boy away until my husband comes
back. Mr. Bobbsey wants to see you. You can't take Bob away like this. I
won't let you. If necessary I'll call a policeman. You must wait until
my husband comes back!"
"I'm not going to wait! I'm going to take that boy now!" cried the angry
man, as Bert and his father hurried in.