DOWN A BIG HOLE
For a few seconds Bert and Harry were so surprised at what had happened
to Nan that they could do nothing but stand and stare up at her.
As for Nan, she also was surprised at the suddenness of her tumble when
she was almost perched safely astride the limb to which the rope of the
swing was tied. As she felt herself slipping she had clung with all her
might, one hand and part of her arm over the branch, another hand
grasping the rope, one leg partly up over the limb, and the other leg
tangled in the rope.
This was what had caused the trouble--the leg getting caught and tangled
in a loop of the rope. But for that, Nan could have swung this leg up
over the limb and so have perched there in safety.
"Come on down!" cried Harry.
"Don't fall!" begged Bert. "Oh, Nan, be careful! Mother'll think I
oughtn't to have let you climb up there!"
"You didn't--you didn't let--me!" panted Nan. "I did it myself!"
"Well, come on down!" begged Harry again.
"I--I can't!" half sobbed Nan, with a catch in her voice. "I--I'm stuck!
Go get a ladder--get something to help me. I can't hold on much longer!"
"Shall we get the tennis net and let you fall into that?" asked Bert,
starting toward the swing with half an idea that he could climb up the
rope and loosen Nan.
"No, I don't want to fall!" cried his sister. "Get a ladder so I can
climb down. Call daddy!"
"I'll call my father!" offered Harry. "He's got a long ladder!"
"Do something! Quick!" begged Nan desperately.
As Bert and Harry started to run toward the house to summon their
fathers and mothers, Flossie and Freddie, tired of playing with the
little boat in the brook, came up to the apple tree. Freddie saw Nan
hanging there, some distance above the ground.
"Oh, Nan's doing circus tricks! Nan's doing circus tricks!" cried
Freddie. "Look at her, Flossie. Nan's doing circus tricks an' I want to
do 'em, too!"
"No, no, Freddie!" screamed Nan, as her little brother ran under the
limb to which she was desperately clinging. "Go away! Don't stand under
me this way! I might fall on you!"
"Oh, I'm going to get mother!" exclaimed Flossie. "She won't want you to
fall, Nan!"
"Well, I--I can't hold on much longer!" sobbed Nan.
Though if she had let go her grasp on the tree limb she would probably
not have fallen, for one foot was tangled in the swing rope. However,
hanging by one leg high in the air would not have been very pleasant.
Nan was not enough of a circus performer for that, though she and Bert
had often done "stunts" on a trapeze in the back yard at home when they
gave "shows."
However, help was on its way to Nan. The excited story told by Harry and
Bert to the two Mr. Bobbseys started both men into action. They got a
long ladder and, having run with it to the tree, placed it up against
the limb. Then Mr. Richard Bobbsey climbed up, while his brother held
steady the foot of the ladder on the ground.
"Why, Nan!" exclaimed her father, as he climbed up to set her free,
"what in the world made you do this?"
"I--I don't know, Daddy! But Bert and Harry climbed up, and they did it
all right. But when I went up something slipped, and I nearly fell, and
I grabbed the rope and the branch, and there I was!"
"Well, it's a good thing you stuck here instead of falling down there,"
and Mr. Bobbsey looked to the ground below. "You're all right now. Don't
cry."
But Nan could not help crying a little, though she was glad she could
feel her father's arms about her. Mr. Bobbsey soon loosened the little
girl's leg from the loop of the rope, and then he carried her down the
ladder.
"You're just like a fireman, aren't you, Daddy?" cried Freddie, as his
father set Nan on the ground.
"Well, a little, yes," admitted Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "But better
not any more of you try those firemen tricks," he warned the children as
the ladder was taken down.
"I'll have to put the swing away if you climb the rope any more,"
threatened Uncle Daniel.
"We won't shinny up it any more," promised Bert and Harry, and their
fathers knew that if the boys did not do it Nan would not.
"I guess we've had enough swinging," said Bert. "Let's play something
else, Harry. Got any new games?"
"We can go down to the pond and fish."
"Oh, I love to fish!" exclaimed Nan. "What kind of fish can you catch in
the pond, Harry?"
"Bullfrogs, mostly."
"They aren't fish," laughed Nan.
"Well, it's just as much fun," went on the country boy.
"I guess I'd better go help mother unpack the trunks," Nan said, for she
saw the expressman drive up with two trunks that had been sent on
ahead. "Mother will want me to help her get the things out so we can go
to the Bolton County Fair to-morrow. You're coming, aren't you, Harry?"
"Sure! It'll be great. But now we'll go fishing for bullfrogs. Come on,
Bert!"
"I want to fish!" begged Freddie, hearing this magic word.
"No, you and Flossie come with me," directed Nan, knowing that the two
boys would not have much fun if they had to watch the small children and
keep them from tumbling into the pond.
"Don't want to come with you!" pouted Flossie. "We wants to go fishing!"
"How would you and Freddie like to go after eggs?" asked Nan, as she saw
her brother and Harry making signals to her for her to do her best to
keep Flossie and Freddie from following. "Wouldn't you like to gather
eggs?"
"Where do you get the eggs?" asked Freddie, who had forgotten.
"In the barn. We'll take the eggs out of the nests, and you and Flossie
can carry the eggs in a little basket to Aunt Bobbsey."
"Oh, yes!" cried Flossie. "I want to do that!"
"So do I!" added Freddie. Anything Flossie wanted to do he generally did
also.
"All right," said Nan, waving to Bert and Harry to hurry away before the
small twins changed their minds. "Come with me, and after I help mother
unpack the trunk we'll go and get the eggs."
As it happened, however, Mrs. Bobbsey did not need Nan's help. Aunt
Sarah said she would aid in getting the things out of the trunks, so Nan
was allowed to go with Flossie and Freddie to the barn to gather eggs.
What fun it was to climb over the sweet hay, sliding down little hills
of it and landing on the barn floor, where more hay made a place like a
cushion! What fun it was to look in at the horses chewing their fodder!
And when the children poked their heads in the horses stopped eating, to
turn around and look to see who was watching them.
"Oh, I've found some eggs!" suddenly cried Flossie, as she spied some of
the white objects in a nest in the hay.
"Pick them up carefully," advised Nan. "Eggs break very easily."
"I want to help pick up the eggs!" cried Freddie, hurrying over to his
little sister's side.
"No, you go find a nest of your own!" exclaimed Flossie. "These are my
eggs!"
"There are plenty of nests," said Nan. "You ought each to find two or
three. Come on, Freddie, we'll look for a nest for you. Be careful of
those eggs, Flossie! I guess I'd better help you pick them up and put
them in a basket while Freddie looks for another nest."
So while Nan stayed with Flossie, Freddie started off by himself to look
for another nest. And as Nan discovered a second nest not far from where
Flossie had found the first one, it took the sisters some time to pick
up all the eggs.
This gave Freddie more time to himself, and he saw a ladder leading into
the upper part of the barn where most of the hay was stored.
"I guess maybe I'll find eggs up there," he said.
He climbed the ladder, going slowly and carefully, and soon found
himself up in the haymow. It was rather dark there, but when he had been
in the place a little while Freddie could see better.
"I guess hens come up here to lay 'cause it's nice and quiet. Now I must
find some nests and eggs."
He walked about over the slippery hay, peering here and there for a
cluster of white eggs. Suddenly Freddie felt himself sliding down.
Faster and faster he went, feet first, and before he knew it he had slid
down into a big hole together with a lot of hay.
"Nan! Nan!" he cried. "Come an' get me! I'm down in a hole!"