THE TWINS FALL DOWN
Again Flossie cried:
"I'm all tangled! I'm all tangled up! Come and help me get out!"
"What in the world can she mean?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Bert.
"What did Freddie say about a net?" asked Nan, as she stumbled and
spilled her blueberries. She was going to stop to pick them up.
"Never mind them," her mother said. "Let them go. We must see what the
matter is with Flossie."
They saw a few seconds later, as they turned on the path. On top of a
little hill, in a place where there was a grassy spot with bushes
growing all around it, they saw Flossie and Freddie.
Freddie was dancing around very much excited, but Flossie was standing
still, and they soon saw the reason for this. She was entangled in a net
that was spread out on the ground and partly raised up on the bushes. It
was like a fish net which the children had often seen the men or boys
use in Lake Metoka, but the meshes, or holes in it, were smaller, so
that only a very little fish could have slipped through. And the cord
from which the net was woven was not as heavy as that of the fish nets.
"Flossie's caught! Flossie's caught!" cried Freddie, still dancing
about.
"Come and get me loose! Come and get me loose!" Flossie begged.
"Mother's coming! Mother's coming!" answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "But how in
the world did it happen?"
She did not wait for an answer, but, as soon as she came near, she
started to rush right into the net herself to lift out her little girl.
But Bert, seeing what would happen, cried:
"Look out, Mother! You'll get tangled up, too. See! the net is caught on
Flossie's shoes and around her legs and arms. She must have fallen
right into it."
"She did," said Freddie. "We were walking along, picking berries, and
all of a sudden Flossie was tangled in the net. I tried to get her out,
but I got tangled, too, only I took my knife and cut some of the cords."
"And that's what we've got to do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The net is so
entangled around Flossie that we'll never get her out otherwise. Have
you a knife, Bert?"
"Yes, Mother. Stand still, Flossie!" he called to his little sister.
"The more you move the worse you get tangled."
With his mother's help Bert soon cut away enough of the meshes of the
queer net so that Flossie could get loose. She was not hurt--not even
scratched--but she was frightened and she had been crying.
"There you are!" cried Mother Bobbsey, hugging her little girl in her
arms. "Not a bit hurt, my little fat fairy! But how in the world did you
get in the net, and what is it doing up on top of this hill in the midst
of a blueberry patch?"
"I--I just stumbled into it," said Flossie, "same as Freddie got stuck
in the mud, only I didn't wade in the water."
"No, there isn't any water around here," returned Nan. "I can't see what
a net is doing here. I thought they only used them to catch fish."
"Maybe they put it up here to dry, as the fishermen at the seashore dry
their nets," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"No," announced Tom, who had been looking at the net, "this ain't for
fishes."
"What is it for then?" asked Bert.
"It's for snarin' birds. I've seen 'em before. Men spread the nets out
on the grass, and over bushes near where the birds come to feed, and
when they try to fly they get caught and tangled in the meshes. I guess
this net ain't been here very long, for there ain't any birds caught in
it."
"But who put it here?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I think it's a shame to
catch the poor birds that way. Who did it?"
Tom looked carefully around before he answered. Then he said:
"I think it was the gypsies."
"The gypsies!" cried Bert.
"Yes. They're a shiftless lot. They don't work and they take what don't
belong to 'em. They're too lazy to hunt with a gun, so they snare birds
in a net. Why, they'll even eat sparrows--make a pie of 'em my mother
says. And when they get robins and blackbirds they're so much bigger
they can broil 'em over their fires. This is a bird-net, that's what it
is."
"I believe you're right," said Mrs. Bobbsey, when she had looked more
closely at it. "It isn't the kind they use in fishing. But do you really
think the gypsies put it here, Tom?"
"Yes'm, I really do. They put 'em here other years, though I never seen
one before. You see the gypsies sometimes camp here and sometimes on the
mainland. All they have to do is to spread their net, and go away. When
they come back next day there's generally a lot of birds caught in it
and they take 'em out and eat 'em."
"Well, they caught a queer kind of bird this time," said Bert, with a
smile at his little sister. "And it didn't do their net any good," he
added, as he looked at the cut meshes.
"I'm sorry to have destroyed the property of any one else," said Mrs.
Bobbsey, "but we had to get Flossie loose. And I don't believe those
gypsies have any right to spread a net for birds."
"My mother says they haven't," replied Tom. "It's agin the law."
"Let's take the net away," suggested Bert.
"No, we haven't any right to do that," said his mother, "but we can tell
the man who has to enforce the laws against hunting birds. I'll speak to
your father about it. Are you all right now, Flossie?"
"Yes, Momsie. But it scared me when I was in the net."
"I should think so!" exclaimed Nan, petting her sister. "Did you just
stumble into it?"
"Yep. I was walkin' along, and I saw a bush with a lovely lot of
blueberries on it. I ran to it and then my foot tripped on a stone and I
fell into the net. First I didn't know what it was, and when I tried to
get up I was all tangled. Then I hollered."
"And I helped her holler," said Freddie.
"Indeed, you did, dear. You were a good little boy to stay by Flossie.
But you're both all right now, and next time you come berrying stay
closer by mother."
"You've got lots of berries," said Flossie, looking at Bert's basket.
"Yes. Tom showed us this good place. And now I guess we'd better go,"
said Bert. "Maybe those gypsies might come to look in their net."
He glanced around as he spoke, but though it was lonely on this part of
Blueberry Island there were no signs of the dark-skinned men with rings
in their ears who had set the bird net.
Dinah made enough blueberry pie to satisfy even the four twins, and when
Mr. Bobbsey heard about the net he told an officer, who took it away.
Whether or not the gypsies found out what had happened to their snare,
as the net is sometimes called, the Bobbseys did not hear, nor did they
see any of the wandering tribe, at least for a while.
Jolly camping days followed, though now and then it rained, which did
not make it so nice. But, take it all in all, the Bobbseys had a fine
time on Blueberry Island. Mr. Bobbsey got Flossie and Freddie some new
"go-around" bugs, and the small twins had lots of fun with them. The old
ones they did not find.
Snoop was not found either, though many blueberry pickers, as well as
the Bobbseys themselves, looked for the missing black cat. Nor was Snap
located, though an advertisement was put in the papers and a reward
offered for him. But Whisker did not go away, nor did any one try to
take him, and he gave the twins many a fine ride.
"And I'm glad the gypsies didn't get Whisker," observed Flossie. "I like
him. Maybe not so much as I like Snap and Snoop, but awfully well I like
him."
"Yes, he's a nice goat. Nicer'n Mike's goat that we 'most bought, but
didn't. I'm glad now that we didn't get Mike's goat, aren't you,
Flossie?"
"Yes, I am."
The Bobbseys had been camping on the island about a month, when one day
Mrs. Bobbsey went over to Lakeport to do some shopping, taking Nan and
Bert with her, and leaving Flossie and Freddie in charge of their
father. Of course Dinah and Sam stayed on the island also.
But you can easily imagine what happened. After Mr. Bobbsey had played a
number of games with the small twins he sat down in a shady place to
rest and read a book, thinking Flossie and Freddie would be all right
playing near the big tent.
The two little ones were making a sand city. They made a square wall of
sand, and inside this they built sand houses, railroads, a tunnel and
many other things, until Freddie suddenly said:
"Oh, if we only had some of the clam shells that are down by the lake we
could make a lot more things."
"So we could!" cried Flossie. "Let's go and get some!"
So, never thinking to ask their father, who was still reading, away
rushed the two twins, after "clam" shells. They were not really shells
of clams, but of fresh water mussels, but they were almost like the
shells of the soft clams one sees at the beach. The mussels are brought
up on shore by muskrats who eat the inside meat and leave the empty
shells. The small twins often used the shells in their play and games.
The place where the mussel shells were usually to be found was not far
from the tents, but like most children in going to one place Flossie and
Freddie took the longest way. They were in no hurry, the sun was shining
brightly, and it was such fun to wander along over the island. So,
before they knew it, they were a long distance from "home," as they
called Twin Camp.
"Maybe we oughtn't to've come," said Flossie, as she stopped to pick
some blueberries.
"We're not so far," said Freddie. "I know my way back. Oh, Flossie! look
at that butterfly!" he suddenly called, making a grab for the fluttering
creature. The butterfly flew on a little way and Freddie raced after it,
followed by Flossie.
"Now I'm goin' to get it!" the little boy cried. With his hat he made a
swoop for the butterfly, and then suddenly he and Flossie, who was
close behind him, tumbled down through a hole in the ground, which
seemed quickly to open at their very feet, between two clumps of bushes.
"Oh!" cried Freddie, as he felt himself falling down.
"Oh, dear!" echoed Flossie.
Then they found themselves in great darkness.