LOST IN THE HAY
"Oh, isn't it just lovely in the woods," sighed Nan, as she sat down
on a green mossy seat beneath a great oak tree. "I could live here
forever!"
"So could I!" exclaimed Mabel Herold. "There is no place so lovely as
the woods."
"You--you wouldn't stay here all night, would you?" asked Freddie, as
he set down the basket of sandwiches he had been carrying, and looked
at a dark hole under some bushes.
"I wouldn't mind," sighed Nan again. "It is so lovely here."
"I used to think I liked the seashore best," said Mabel, "but now I
think the country is prettiest."
"Well, I'm not going to stay here all night," decided Freddie.
"There--there's bugs--and--and--things!"
"I thought you weren't afraid of them," spoke Nan with a smile.
"I--I meant in daytime--I'm not afraid then," declared Freddie. "But
at night, why--why, I'd rather be home in bed."
"And I guess we all would," exclaimed Nan, hugging the little fat
fellow.
"Oh, there goes a rabbit!" cried Bert to Harry. "Let's see if we can
catch him!"
"Come on!" agreed the country boy.
"I'm with you!" shouted Tom Mason.
"Oh, will they hurt the little bunny?" asked Flossie, with quivering
lips, for she dearly loved all animals.
"I guess there isn't much danger of them catching the rabbit," said
Mr. Bobbsey, sitting down beside his wife in a shady green spot. "A
bunny can hop very fast."
And so it proved. The three boys raced about through the woods until
they were quite tired, and very much heated up. But the rabbit got
safely away.
"Ah, well, we didn't want him anyhow," said Harry, fanning himself
with his cap, after the chase.
"No," agreed Bert, "we just wanted to see if we could get him."
"My! It's warm!" exclaimed Tom, looking at the basket in which the
lemonade was packed in bottles. "I'm very thirsty," he said.
"You must not drink when you are too warm," advised Mr. Bobbsey. "Wait
until you cool off a bit. If you take cold water, or icy lemonade,
into your stomach after you are all heated up from running, you may be
made ill. Rest a while before you drink, is good advice."
So the boys waited, and a little later they were allowed to have some
of the cool lemonade.
"Are we going to eat our lunch here?" asked Freddie.
"No, a little farther on in the woods," said his Aunt Sarah.
So they walked on, under the shady trees, with the green carpet of
moss under foot, until they came to a little glade, where the trees
grew in a circle about a grassy space.
"It--it's just like a circus ring!" exclaimed Freddie. "Oh, couldn't
we have a circus, or a show, while we're here at the farm?" he asked.
"We'll see," half-promised his mother.
The table-cloth was spread out on the green grass, and the wooden
plates set on it. Then the lunch baskets were opened and the good
things passed around. There were sandwiches of several kinds, and cake
and cookies, as well as more lemonade.
"Isn't it nice to eat this way?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "When we have
finished, there are no dishes to wash; just the wooden plates to throw
away."
"Yes'm," declared Dinah, with a chuckle. "I spects dish yeah would be
a good way to do back home--but it would be kinder cold, eatin' out in
de woods in de winter time."
"I wouldn't want to live here in winter," said Freddie. "There isn't
any place to hang up your stocking Christmas, and no chimney for Santa
Claus to come down!" he added.
"And that would never do!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey. "But we will enjoy
these woods all we can."
When the woodland picnic lunch was finished, the party sat about on
the grass, in the shade of the trees, and Mr. Bobbsey told stories to
the two small children. Flossie and Freddie enjoyed this very much.
Nan and Mabel went for a little walk in the woods, and Bert and Harry
said they were going to try for some fish, as they had brought hooks
and lines along, and could cut poles in the woods. This time they had
very good luck.
"I have one!" suddenly called Harry, pulling up his line. There was a
flash, as of silver, in the air, and he hauled a fish up from the
water, landing it flapping on the grass behind him.
"Oh, what a big one!" cried Bert, running over to look. "I wish I
could get one now."
"Maybe you will," said Harry, trying to catch the flopping creature.
"Put on some fresh bait." But Harry caught another fish before Bert
had even a good bite.
By this time Mr. Bobbsey had finished his story, and Flossie had taken
out her doll to pretend to get it to sleep. Freddie wandered over to
where Bert and Harry were fishing.
"Oh, I have one! I have one!" Bert suddenly shouted, and he, too,
landed a good-sized fish. It was taken off the hook, and strung on a
willow twig, and then, fastened so it could not swim away, it was put
back into the water to keep fresh until it was time to go home.
Freddie was very much interested in the captive fish. He went down to
the edge of the creek to watch them as they tried to swim away. But
they could not, for the willow twigs held them.
Suddenly one of the fish gave a big jump in the shallow pool, where
Bert had put them.
"Oh!" exclaimed Freddie, springing back. Then his foot slipped on a
wet, mossy stone, and the next moment the little fellow fell down into
the water.
"Bert!! Harry! Come and get me! I'm in!" he cried.
Bert and Harry dropped their poles and came up on the run, but there
was no danger, for the water was only a few inches deep, near shore,
and Freddie was already on his feet when they reached him.
"Oh! Oh!" sobbed the little fellow. "I--I'm all wet."
"Never mind, you have your old clothes on," said his brother. "And
I'll tell mother it was an accident."
It was a warm summer day and a little wetting would not harm Freddie.
He was taken back to a sunny place by Bert, and told to sit in the
warm spot until he had dried out. Then the two larger boys went back
to fish, but Freddie's accident must have scared all the fish away,
for Bert and Harry caught no more.
"My, but you are a sight, Freddie!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, when she
saw the wet and muddy little twin. "But I suppose you could not help
it."
"No, mamma," he answered. "The fish made me fall in."
It was almost time for the picnic party to start back home now. Dinah
was packing up the knives, forks, and glasses, and throwing away the
wooden plates.
As she knelt over to fold up the table-cloth, she felt something touch
her back, and the next moment something cold and wet touched her
cheek.
"Go 'long wif yo' now, Bert!" she exclaimed, not turning around.
"Don't yo' put any ob dem wet slimy fish on me. Don't you do it!"
Then something almost pushed Dinah over, and again she felt the wet
object on the back of her neck.
"Stop it! Stop it!" cried the colored cook. "Don't yo' put any toad
down mah back, Bert!"
"I'm not doing anything," Bert answered, and at the sound of his voice
Dinah looked up and saw him some distance off. At the same time,
though, Bert and Harry burst into a laugh.
"Oh, look what Dinah thought was me!" cried Bert.
Dinah turned around, just as a loud "Moo!" sounded in her ear, making
her jump.
"Good land ob massy!" she cried. "It's a cow!"
And, surely enough, so it was. The cow had wandered out of the woods,
and, coming up behind Dinah, had licked her neck with a big red
tongue. Perhaps the cow thought Dinah was a lump of black salt!
"Go 'way! Go 'long outer heah! Leef me be!" screamed Dinah, and
catching up a handful of wooden plates she threw them at the cow. They
rattled on the animal's horns, and then, with another "Moo!" the
creature turned and crashed back through the bushes.
"And Dinah thought that was I, tickling her with a fish tail," said
Bert, laughing.
"Dat's what I did, honey!" the colored cook said, with a laugh. "I
s'pected yo' was up to some ob yo' all tricks!"
They all laughed at this, and amid much fun and jollity the picnic
things were packed up and the homeward walk begun.
"Oh, we have had _such_ a good time!" sighed Nan. "I am sorry it is
over."
"Oh, we'll have more good times," said Bert, as he and Harry walked
along with the fish they had caught. Their chum, Tom Mason, had two
smaller ones.
There were days of work and play on the farm, and Harry had his share
of tasks to perform. Bert helped him all he could. One day, when the
boys and girls had counted on going out rowing on a little lake not
far from Meadow Brook, it rained. When they arose in the morning,
ready for their fun, the big drops were splashing down.
"Oh, we can't go!" sighed Freddie. "I don't like rain!"
"I thought all firemen liked water," his father said, with a laugh.
"This is too much water!" went on the little chap. "We can't have any
fun."
"Oh, yes, we can," said Harry. "We can go out in the barn and play in
the hay. The big barn is full of new hay now, and we can slide down
the mow and play hide and go seek in it."
"That will be great!" exclaimed Bert. "Come on."
Snap, the dog, must have thought he was also invited, for he ran out
barking, with the children. Umbrellas kept the rain off them until
they reached the barn, and then began a good time.
They went to the top of the big pile of fragrant hay in the mow, and
slid down it to the barn floor, where a carpet of more hay made a soft
place on which to fall. Snap slid with the rest, barking and wagging
his tail every minute.
"Now let's play hide and go seek!" suggested Harry after a bit. "I'll
'blind' and when I say 'ready or not, I'm coming,' I'm going to start
to find you."
The game began. Harry closed his eyes, so he would not see where the
others hid, and Nan, Bert and the rest of them picked out spots in the
hay, and about the barn where they thought Harry could not see them.
But Harry knew the old barn well, and he easily found Bert. Then he
spied Nan and Flossie, hiding together. A little later he discovered
where Tom Mason and Mabel Herold were.
"Now I've only to find Freddie," said the country cousin. But Freddie
was not so easy to find. Harry looked all over but could not locate
him.
"There are so many holes in the barn," the country boy said, "and
Freddie is so small, that I guess I'd better give him up. I'll let him
come in free. Givey-up! Givey-up!" he called. "Come on in free,
Freddie."
But Freddie did not answer. They all kept quiet, but all they could
hear was the patter of rain drops on the barn roof.
"Freddie! Freddie! Freddie! Where are you?" cried Nan.
"Come on in free!" added Harry.
"Come on, little fat fireman," went on Bert. "Harry won't tag you, and
you can hide again."
But Freddie's childish voice did not reply. The boys and girls looked
anxiously at one another.
"Where's Freddie?" asked Flossie, and her lips began to tremble as
they did just before she started to cry.
"Oh, we'll find him," said Bert, easily.
"Yes, he's probably hiding so far off he can't hear us," went on
Harry.
"Maybe he's lost under the hay," suggested Tom. "I read of a boy
getting caught under a pile of hay once, and they didn't get him out
for a long time."
"Oh, Freddie's lost! Freddie's lost!" cried Flossie, bursting into
tears.